Jul 27, 2015 | Racing
After adroitly avoiding an offstride Ontario Success early in the backstretch, Sparky Mark, driven by Simon Allard, went on to his second straight victory at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, taking the $24,000 featured pace at the mountain oval on Saturday, July 25, in 1:50.
Ontario Success had put up early numbers of 26.2 and 55.3, with Sparky Mark on his back. Driver Anthony Napolitano kicked out the horse’s earplugs coming off the second turn, but the pacer misreacted and went offstride, moving to the outside as Napolitano looked for clearance and hollered out about his problem. Allard and Joe Pavia Jr., guiding first-over Blatantly Best, reacted well in concert with Napolitano, with Allard going inside the runner and Pavia going wide as Napolitano kept his offstride charge between the pair.
From there, Sparky Mark had it relatively easy, storming home in 54.1-27 individually to win by 2 1/4 lengths over Blatantly Best, who was able to retuck in the pocket after the trouble. The son of Astreos, trained by Simon’s brother Rene, continues to get closer and closer to a seven-figure lifetime bankroll, with his lifetime total now at $953,556.
Jul 26, 2015 | Racing
July 17-23, 2015
Now that we’re in the heart of the 2015 racing season at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, the schedule provides five nights of racing each week. That means that it’s harder than ever to choose who’s deserving of the Weekly Awards, because there are even more candidates from which to select. But we’re going to take a deep dive anyway and come up with the best of the best from the week that was at Pocono.
PACER OF THE WEEK: CAUTION SIGNS
It’s been a lot of fun to chart the ascendancy of this 5-year-old stallion in 2015. On April 16, he finished third in a $12,500 claimer at Yonkers. That’s when he was claimed by owner/trainer Tracy Brainard, who immediately coaxed better efforts from the horse in New York, as he won two of his next three starts. But that was nothing compared to the run of success he’s put together at Pocono. Since arriving at the end of May, Caution Signs has four wins and two places in six races, all while climbing the highest rungs of the condition ladder.
On July 4, he completed his climb by beating Open pacers in 1:48:4, his third straight win. On Saturday night he took on Open company again and a field that was reduced to four by a couple of scratches. Although that might have seemed like an easy assignment, Caution Signs was dealing with a sloppy track. And, as he took the early lead, he was also dealing with a horse in Scott Rocks who sat the pocket and wouldn’t let him get away to a comfortable margin.
In the stretch, Scott Rocks came out of the pocket full of sound and fury looking to upend the even-money favorite. But no horse wins as consistently as Caution Signs has of late without being more than a little game. The stallion, with Joe Pavia Jr. doing the driving, fought hard to hold on to his lead, eventually winning by a neck in 1:49:4, a blistering time considering the sloppy going. Something tells me you wouldn’t be able to get Caution Signs for $12,500 right now, or maybe even five times that, considering his current hot streak.
Other top pacers this week include: Priceless Edition (Anthony Napolitano, Pierre Paradis), an 11-year-old veteran who cranked out his third straight claiming handicap on Friday night, this one coming in 1:54:4; Union Man Hanover (Andrew McCarthy, Tracy Brainard), who moved up his claiming price on Saturday night to $25,000 and still easily scored his third straight victory, this one in 1:51:4 in the slop; and Request For Parole (Anthony Napolitano, Ron Burke), a mare who followed up a win at The Meadowlands with a victory in Friday night’s featured pace in 1:49:2, the fastest time posted at Pocono this past week.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: AUSPICIOUS HANOVER
When I’m making the morning line odds for some of the top condition races on the card at Pocono, it’s always difficult to assign long odds to horses with strong performance backgrounds. There have to be long shots in every race, of course, so I grit my teeth and hope the public sees it the same way. That’s my way of explaining how a horse as solid as Auspicious Hanover could ever get away at 25-1 like he did on Saturday night.
The 4-year-old gelding from the Chris Oakes barn was coming into the condition trot for non-winners of $22,500 in the last five races, which carried the week’s top trotting purse of $24,000, off a 6th-place finish at Saratoga, but that was in an Open Handicap. Prior to that he had ripped off back-to-back wins at middling prices on the 5/8-mile oval at Harrah’s. Yet he was way back in the betting pecking order, with Madewell Hanover the even-money choice.
None of that mattered once the race started. Driver Kevin Wallis urged Auspicious Hanover to the lead at the quarter in a zippy :26:4. He was able to rate things much more reasonably through the middle portion of the race though, so that Auspicious Hanover didn’t just withstand the late pursuit of Madewell Hanover, but he actually lengthened the lead at the line to 2 ¼ lengths with a winning time of 1:54:1 in the slop. The win payout was $53.20 on a $2 ticket, so those who waded through the talented field to find the merits of this talented gelding were definitely rewarded.
Honorable mention on the trotting side goes to: Can I Say (Tom Jackson, Douglas Berkeley), a mare who beat the boys in a tough condition race on Saturday night in 1:54:1 in the slop; Demons N Diamonds (Simon Allard, John McDermott), a filly who stepped up in class on Sunday night and ripped off her second straight win, this one in a career-best time of 1:54; and Born To Fight (George Napolitano Jr., Mark Ford), who stepped up in class on Tuesday night to win his second straight condition won, this one coming in 1:55:2 in the slop.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: BLINTZ
This filly made here maiden victory a memorable one on Sunday night, scoring for trainer/driver Bob Krivelin at 55-1, paying off $118 on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: GEORGE NAPOLITANO JR.
On Saturday night we honored George Nap for picking up his 7,000th career victory earlier in the week at Harrah’s, and he reminded us of how he reached that milestone by winning the night’s first three races.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: TRACY BRAINARD
Brainard’s efficiency at Pocono has been off the charts in recent weeks, and two more victories on Saturday continued that torrid training streak.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Jul 21, 2015 | Racing
You’d be hard-pressed to find a sharper pacing mare right now than Request For Parole, who won the $24,000 distaff feature Friday night, July 17th, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, tallying in 1:49.2 to reduce her lifetime mark of 1:50, which she had achieved at The Meadowlands just seven days prior.
Driver Anthony Napolitano drew the assignment behind the 5YO daughter of Badlands Hanover from trainer Ron Burke, and she scooted away quickly from the middle of the nine-horse field to reach the quarter in 26.1, only to let Gallie Bythe Beach, parked behind her early, go to the top at the 3/8, before a sapping half-mile clocking of 53.3.
Scandalicious came strongly first-up down the backstretch and had reached the leader just past the 1:20.4 3.4s, before going to the lead late on the turn. For a moment it looked like Request For Parole might be locked in jail behind the tiring pacesetter as the first-over might get away, but the top three had formed a breakaway trio, and “ANap” was able to swing his mare two- and three-wide behind the new leader, picking her up easily at midstretch to win by 2 3/4 lengths.
Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC acquired the fast mare at the end of May, and now they have a pacer who looks like a possible national fast-class performer.
Jun 10, 2015 | Racing
A specially-formatted 16-race card was featured on Belmont Day, June 6th, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with four races held before the historic doings in Elmont NY and then the remainder starting after the big race.
The race attracting the most attention was the tenth race (held in the evening portion), a $30,000 Open pace, and there was “dancin’ in the moonlight” as 2014 Pennsylvania Pacer of the Year Dancin Yankee never looked back in a 1:48.3 victory, going out in 26 and coming home in 26.4 firmly in control. George Napolitano Jr., king of the local driving colony again this year, was named on four horses in the race, and he picked the right one as the son of Yankee Cruiser raised his lifetime earnings harvest over $1.2M for trainer Josh Green and owners Baron Racing Stable and Richard Lombardo.
In the other $30,000 Open pace, Big Boy Dreams marked himself as a 4-year-old to watch as he reduced his mark to 1:49.4 in taking another $30,000 Open pacing contest. The son of If I Can Dream made the front just past the ¼ for driver Simon Allard, set the pace, then rocketed home in 26.4 for his second straight victory after a third-place finish in the Confederation Cup Final. Trainer Rene Allard shares ownership of the winner of over half a million dollars with Robert Hamather and Mary Lou Poliseno.
The ladies were in the spotlight in the last race of the “early” card and the first race of the “later” card.
In the last race held before the Belmont, Blue Chip Matchmaker winner Venus Delight asserted a claim to be the leader of the older female division with a 1:50.2 decision in a $30,000 mares handicap pace, despite not having started since her victory in the Yonkers series final on April 25. But the daughter of Bettor’s Delight and driver Jason Bartlett had to work hard for the top money, rallying out of the pocket to catch perhaps the most-improved horse of 2015, Ooh Bad Shark, to tally by a head after grabbing the lead with about 100 feet to go. The winner, who set a personal mark, is trained by Jeff Bamond Jr. for owners Bamond Racing LLC – who might get a fifth straight older pacing mares yearly title, with Anndrovette having won in the last four seasons.
After American Pharoah won the Belmont and the first thoroughbred Triple Crown in 37 years, the Broadway Hall mare Frau Blucher went 34 4/5 seconds faster in winning, capturing a $30,000 open trot while defeating six males and two females in 1:51.4, 2/5 of a second off her mark and the 4TM world record she set at The Downs last year. Frau Blucher, driven by George Napolitano Jr. for trainer Chris Oakes, made every pole a winning one while raising her career bankroll to $976,932 for owners Hauser Brothers Racing Enterprises LLC and Susan Oakes. (And she’d be over $1M right now but for an inch, as she was deadheated for the win by stablemate Classic Martine in the world record-DH PA Sire Stakes 3TF Championship race in 2013.)
–On this 16-race card, two drivers won ten of the races, and only five drivers in all won: George Napolitano Jr. and Simon Allard both had five victories (four of Allard’s were trained by brother Rene); Jason Bartlett had 3, Anthony Napolitano had 2, and Marcus Miller had 1.
—There were a total of seven miles in 1:50 or better on the card, topped by Dancin Yankee’s 1:48.3; among the drivers, George Nap had three, and Allard two.
Jun 3, 2015 | Racing
The Napolitano brothers accounted for the sulky success in the $22,000 twin features Saturday nigh, May 23, t at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with Anthony taking the trot with Swishnflick in 1:54 and then George winning the pace with Scott Rocks in 1:50.1.
The Kadabra mare Swishnflick was sent right to the top in the trotting headliner, putting down fractions of 28.1, 57.4, and 1:26 for “Ant’ny Nap.” There turned out to be only one stretch challenger for Swishnflick – the pocketsitter My Love Bi, driven by brother George – and the latter pair were closing outside the leader with every stride, but Swishnflick held together gamely to the wire to get the nose nod for win for trainer Gus Scarpias and owner Kenneth Westerside.
“Pocket rocket” tactics proved more profitable for “George Nap” and Scott Rocks in the pacing feature. The pair quarter-moved after a 26.4 opener; as soon as they made the top, Great Artist completed a huge move (26.1 individual second quarter) to go by before the half in 54, and keeping the lead through a 1:22.3 three quarters clocking. The right-hand linetug at headstretch worked better for “GNap” in this event, as he rallied Scott Rocks, an altered son of Rocknroll Hanover, to catch Great Artist by a neck for trainer Chris Oakes and owners Susan Oakes and Chuck Pompey.
