Well, racing fans, we have just about reached the end of another amazing racing season at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The Pocono meet ends up with a pair of added racing nights on Friday, November 22, and Saturday, November 23, a little more icing on what has been a particularly rich and tasty cake. After that, time to settle in, enjoy the holidays, and look forward to next year.
Still, for me anyway, I’m sure that a lot of those lazy winter days will be spent reflecting on the season that was. 2013 was my sixth year calling the races at Pocono and my 16th year at the track overall, and it was easily the most exciting one that I’ve ever witnessed. That doesn’t in any way denigrate some of the great years we’ve had in the recent past, but it all came together this year.
The obvious catalyst for the ridiculously thrilling action was the racing schedule. For many years, Pocono was home to just a couple of big-money stakes per year. That number of stakes races has steadily increased to the point where Pocono was pretty much the hub of the harness racing universe in 2013. There were three nights during the season that were dedicated to nothing but stakes races of the highest caliber, and each of those nights lived up to their lofty expectations, culminating with the scintillating thrills of Breeders Crown night in October.
Because of this abundance of stakes races held at MSPD in 2013, the local fans got several opportunities to witness the finest stars in the standardbred galaxy. When they name the sport’s horses of the year for 2013, it’s a safe bet that they will all have raced multiple times at the Pocono oval this season. Indeed some of the biggest names, like Captaintreacherous, I Luv The Nitelife, Bee A Magician, and Foiled Again, had their most memorable triumphs on the Pocono stage.
The easiest way to tell just how competitive the racing action has been in 2013 is to check out our track records page in the front of the program. A quick perusal of that page will show you that a stunning 20 of 24 groupings, which are separated by age, gait, and gender, have records which were set this season. Of those, 17 either set or matched world records for tracks that are 5/8-mile long like Pocono.
It is easy to get swept up in the equine accomplishments, but their human stars of the sport also helped to make Pocono racing so memorable. At press time, George Napolitano Jr. and Chris Oakes were poised to repeat as leaders in driving victories and training average, respectively. Rene Allard is headed to his first ever title in training wins. In driving UDRS, it was still too close to call between Jim Morrill Jr. and Ron Pierce.
Of course, those guys we mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. The Pocono driving community continues to be one of the most competitive groups in the country. In addition to Napolitano, Pierce, and Morrill, Matt Kakaley, Andrew McCarthy, and Tyler Buter all topped 100 wins this season at MSPD. Six more drivers had at least 50 victories, including Pocono newcomers Marcus Miller and Simon Allard.
The training colony was equally rugged. What was notable this season was how many of the nation’s top trainers made Pocono a destination instead of a pit stop. As a result, many of the names on the Pocono training leaderboard coincided with the list of the nation’s top statistical trainers. Oakes, Allard, and Ron Burke were the biggest winners on the training side, but the victories and purses were parceled out to a wide roster of excellent handlers in 2013.
There are far too many individual moments to recount in this relatively short article, but suffice it to say that I could have gone on for quite some time detailing all of the star-making performances and jaw-dropping upsets that kept the faithful on their toes all year long. I have the best seat in the house up in my announcer’s booth, and this year has never ceased to amaze, right from Opening night through these chilly final weeks.
As always, it’s been a pleasure and an honor to have this opportunity to share my thoughts and spread the facts about the racing at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The best thing about 2013 might the feeling that I get that tells me that this year won’t be an aberration in terms of its quality and excitement. It feels like seasons like 2013 will be commonplace at the Pocono in the years to come.
So enjoy the final nights of racing at Pocono for this season and make sure to have a great holiday season. Until next year, we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at jbeviglia@mohegansunpocono.com.