Harness: New Hambletonian wager has a future

For the first time in a while, I left Las Vegas recently without a ‘future wager’ ticket in my pocket. Usually I pick a team in baseball or football to ‘win it all’ and hope to have some rooting action down the line at sweet odds. For whatever reason, perhaps because I didn’t exactly hit it big, I elected to pass on using my crystal ball to predict the future.

While it wasn’t in Vegas, interestingly enough, I did place a future wager recently. It was on the outcome of the 2018 Hambletonian. The first of three pools was offered from June 22 to 24 and attracted $6,991 in pari-mutuel action. The total is rather small in the grand scheme of things, but it was a first step in what hopefully will grow into something larger according to Meadowlands COO Jason Settlemoir.

“The amount wagered exceeded my expectations and I believe each pool will grow over the next two months leading up to the Hambletonian,” said Settlemoir. “More so than anything, this is a promotional tool to start reaching people a few months in advance to start thinking about harness racing’s most prestigious race.”

I have to agree with Settlemoir. There really is no downside to offering handicappers the option to choose their favorite horse early and it does create more publicity for the race. More importantly, the wager created nearly $7,000 in handle that the track never would have seen otherwise.

My personal investment was $20 on two horses I felt were offering odds that far exceeded their chances of winning the big dance on August 4 at The Meadowlands.

While I’ll agree that if Atlanta keeps her form and decides to race against the boys, 5-2 seems like a huge overlay as part of the field in the future wager, who wants to take odds of 5-2 with so much uncertainty?

The two horses I landed on were Evaluate (22-1) and You Know You Do (34-1).

Evaluate seems to have all of the tools necessary to win the Hambletonian. He’s already trotted a winning mile in 1:51 4/5 and has shown versatility in his racing style. He’d never been worse than second in eight career starts before post eight took him down in the $500,000 Earl Beal Memorial at Pocono.

You Know You Do is more of a ‘feel’ selection for me. People were no doubt turned off by his lack of activity and a recent break at Pocono. None of that bothered me because I think he is a better horse on the mile track and he is trained by Jimmy Takter. The Hall of Fame conditioner knows that the only race that matters is the Hambletonian and this guy was always considered one of his top prospects if not his best. I’ll take 34-1 on one of the winterbook favorites every time.

[UPDATE: You Know You Do finished second timed in 1:50 2/5 in a June 29 start at The Meadowlands.]

Looking at the other 14 listed horses, Alarm Detector seems like a huge underlay at 20-1. He really hasn’t shown enough to deserve such low odds. Fourth Dimension has very similar stats to You Know You Do and is somewhat a mind-boggling 7-2. Six Pack and Wolfgang are co-third choices at 5-1. The price is fair considering what we’ve seen from them so far in 2018.

The next opportunity to dip your feet in this future wager comes from July 20 to 22, one week after many of the Hambletonian hopefuls will compete in the Stanley Dancer at The Meadowlands on July 14. A final chance comes from August 1 to 3 after horses are officially entered for the Hambletonian eliminations.

One thing to keep in mind is that you need to win the Hambletonian FINAL to win this wager and that means the horse you select has to be capable of racing twice and winning their second start. It is the true test of a champion where being the fastest is not always as important as having the complete package of class, speed and grit.

Good luck if you’ve already placed a wager on the Hambletonian. If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot in late July with your favorite trotter.