Mar 26, 2014 | Racing
March 25, 2014
R Journey Together, Envious Hanover, and Sweet Charity all scored wins Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in the Bobby Weiss series. The three divisions, which included three and four-year-old pacing mares, each carried a purse of $15,000.
R Journey Together (Western Ideal-R Xample), driven by George Napolitano Jr. and trained by Lou Pena, came off a two-month layoff to win the first split in 1:54:1. In the second split, Envious Hanover (Western Ideal-EicarlsOlvidar), with Matt Kakaley in the bike for trainer Ron Burke, overcame an outside post for a victory in 1:54. Sweet Charity (Art Major-Fool For You), driven by Andrew McCarthy and trained by Aaron Lambert, picked up her maiden win in the final division in 1:53:3.
May 12, 2013 | Racing
May 4-10, 2013
It was an extremely busy week at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, featuring one extra racing card thanks to our Kentucky Derby day doubleheader. With all of that thrilling action, there were plenty of fantastic performances to witness and a bevy of top choices for the Weekly Awards. Those were some tough choices to make, but here are the best of the best from this jam-packed week.
PACER OF THE WEEK: GOLDEN RECEIVER
Back before Pocono ascended to one of the top tracks in the nation, it was common for horses that did well here to struggle when they got to the bigger stages. That has all changed in recent years, and no horse exemplifies that transformation any better than Golden Receiver, who was once the best at MSPD but proceeded to be one of the best in the whole country.
Coming off a 2012 season which saw him earn $941,025, he picked up where he left off with six straight victories to start this year before a loss at Harrah’s on April 5. After a month off, he returned to racing at the scene of so many of his greatest triumphs in Saturday night’s $50,000 Van Rose Memorial pace. The fans remembered the 8-year-old gelding from the Mark Harder barn well, making him the 1-5 favorite in a star-studded field.
He didn’t disappoint. Driver George Napolitano Jr. sent him to the front end early, and Golden Receiver did the rest, winning by 1 ¾ lengths in 1:50 without even breaking a sweat. It was a kind of victory lap for the superstar, but, with the Breeders Crown scheduled for Pocono in October, he’ll likely be back to go for an even bigger crowning score at his former home.
Honorable mention on the pacing side includes: Lorrie Please (Eric Carlson, Michael Hall), a mare who won her second straight Preferred distaff pace on Sunday night, rallying for the victory in 1:51; Mustang Art (Andrew McCarthy, James McGuire), who burned it up on the front end in a condition pace for a win in 1:49:3, the fastest time posted at Pocono this week; and Blissful Dreamer (Jim Morrill Jr., Brewer Adams), who won her third straight race at a third different claiming price, this time out on Wednesday night over the $10,000 claiming mares in 1:52:3.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: CLASSIC MARTINE
Sunday night featured the last of the four $30,000 finals for the Bobby Weiss Series, the races which featured some of the best young talent on the grounds over the first month of the season. The last of the groups to take center stage was the assemblage of 3-year-old trotting fillies, and the final was distinguished by the fact that Classic Martine was a prohibitive favorite.
It didn’t take too much in the way of investigation to see why, considering that the filly from the Todd Schadel barn had won her last three starts in the previous legs of the series, beating at one time or another in that stretch every horse that she would face in Sunday’s final. Still, the 1-2 favorite could have had any number of things go wrong, like a break of stride or some bad racing luck, to derail her chances.
Driver Andy Miller took some of the variables out of play by sending Classic Martine to the front end. He then allowed the filly to dictate the pace and expend only as much energy as necessary. In the stretch, she glided home over horses giving all-out efforts to get to her, winning without exerting herself at all in 1:55:3, making this Weiss final look like a foregone conclusion.
Other top trotters include: As Ya’ll Like It (Tyler Buter, Amber Buter), who trotted away and hid for a claiming handicap victory on Saturday night in 1:55:1; Sand Wyndham (Joe Pavia Jr., Rene Allard), who made a late rally to win Tuesday night’s featured condition trot in 1:54; and Tui (Anthony Napolitano, Don Wiest), who rolled to an easy win in Wednesday night’s featured condition trot, scoring in a quick 1:53:2 despite sloppy conditions.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: TWIN B FLIRT
Saturday’s very first race of the morning on the special racing card woke the patrons up quickly, as driver Marcus Miller guided this condition pacer to a win at 32-1 for a $66 payout on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: MATT KAKALEY
Matt had one of his best weeks of the season to date, including a monster weekend with eight wins in two days and a five-bagger on Sunday night.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: PJ FRALEY
With three wins on Saturday night’s program and then two more on Tuesday night, Fraley continued what has been an extremely hot start to the Pocono meet.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Mar 27, 2013 | Racing
Jerseylicious Stays Unbeaten in Weiss at Pocono
March 26, 2013
Budding 3-year-old filly star Jerseylicious continued her unbeaten string to start the season by winning a division of the Bobby Weiss Series at Pocono. There were three divisions held on Tuesday night at Pocono for 3-year-old fillies, with each carrying a purse of $15,000.
With Corey Callahan in the bike for trainer Wayne Givens, Jerseylicious (Western Ideal-Jet Laag N) led every step of the way in her heat for a five-length win in 1:54:4. The filly had previously won four straight at Dover Downs to start her 2013 campaign.
The other two Weiss divisions were captured by Ideal Ginny (Western Ideal-Armbro Nectarine), who was driven by Marcus Miller for trainer Erv Miller, in 1:53:2, and O Narutac Rockette (Rocknroll Hanover-Cam For Life), driven by Corey Callahan for trainer Dylan Davis, in 1:53:1.
May 2, 2012 | Racing
Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Week in Review
April 20-26, 2012
Last week, we highlighted the first two finals of the Bobby Weiss late closer series in this space. This week we can tell you about the last of those $30,000 finals, this time out for the 3 and 4-year-old trotters. As a matter of fact, the winner of that race was an easy choice to lead off this edition of the Weekly Awards. Let’s take a look.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: UPFRONTSTRIKESGOLD
One of the toughest things for a horse to accomplish in the sport of harness racing is to win when saddled with a first-over trip. What that means, for those who might not be familiar with the term, is that the horse, preferring not to get caught behind horses on the inside, moves to the outside and must provide all the momentum on its own without any cover in front to pull it along. In addition, the outside trip means the horse must travel a little extra distance around the turns.
Yet some horses thrive with such trips, and Upfrontstrikesgold seems to be one of them. A product of trainer Mark Ford’s barn, this gelding won the first two legs of the Weiss series despite having to make things happen with an outside trip. In the final, he had to do the same, beginning his first over move on the front stretch with more than half the race still in front of him.
Even with that long journey, he pulled even at the three-quarter mile marker, eventually wearing down the leader to win by 1 ¼ lengths in a new career-best time of 1:54:3. Tyler Buter did the driving for Upfrontstrikesgold, who completed the sweep and now has five wins in just seven starts in the 2012 season to date.
Honorable mention on the trotting side goes to: Lolique (Jim Morrill Jr., John Wagner), the veteran gelding who scored in the week’s featured condition trot on Saturday night in 1:54:4; Tameka Seelster (Mike Simons, Dennis Walsh), a mare who moved up in class for her second straight claiming win on Tuesday in 1:57:2; and MM’s Lucky Boy (Jim Morrill Jr., Erv Miller), who scorched the track for a condition win on Friday night in 1:53:2, the fastest trotting mile of the 2012 meet to date.
PACER OF THE WEEK: FORECLOSURE N
The cold and wet weather brought us our first sloppy track of the season on Saturday night, and, as is so often the case when the racing surface softens, many of the horses with early speed struggled to get home in the stretch. That didn’t seem to bode well for Foreclosure N, who was coming off a win in his 2012 debut the previous week.
This classy 4-year-old earned over $200,000 in each of his first two racing seasons, but taking on a rugged condition group from the outside post seemed like a tough task. Driver Jim Morrill Jr. didn’t seem worried though, aggressively sending his charge to the front end and daring everybody else to come and get him.
In the stretch, when closers lined up behind him, Foreclosure N found another gear and kicked away from his foes to win by 1 ¾ lengths in 1:51:2, the fastest time anyone managed on the sloppy track all night. Now 2-for-2 and having proven he can handle the top of the condition ranks, it should be fun to watch what lies ahead for this superstar from the Chris Ryder barn in weeks to come.
Other top pacers this week include: Fred And Ginger (Matt Kakaley, Ron Burke), who pounced from the pocket to win the week’s featured winners of over $25,000 pace on Saturday night in 1:51:4; Dinneratartsplace (Tyler Buter, James Eaton), who sizzled to a condition win on Friday night in 1:50:3, the fastest time any pacer achieved all week; and Odds On Aventure (Tyler Buter, Scot DiDomenico), who stepped up again and won her fourth consecutive race on Tuesday, beating the highest condition group for mares in a career-best 1:51:1.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: CELEBRITY HALL
Making just his second career start, this young trotter, with Andrew McCarthy driving, opened some eyes in Tuesday night’s opening race with a come-from-behind win at 29-1, paying off $61.20 to win.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: TYLER BUTER
Buter continued the solid start to the season with a breakout week, earning multiple wins in three of the four racing nights to solidify his standing in the Top 5 of the drivers colony.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: CHRISTOPHER BANKS
Banks, a newcomer to Pocono, scored with Donttellmewhattodo on Friday and I Scoot For Cash on Saturday, neither of whom were favored to win.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Apr 19, 2012 | Racing
Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Week In Review
Opening Night Recap – April 3, 2012
It didn’t take long for the 2012 season at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs to kick into gear. In front of a solid crowd on Tuesday night, a field of seven pacers went to the gate in Race 1 for the first of about 1,900 races that Pocono will host from now to November.
What’s funny about it is that all of us who love the sport of harness racing spend lots of time looking forward to a new season, but it takes just a matter of moments for us to really get engrossed in it all over again. In this case, it took about 53:4 seconds, which is how long it took Midas Blue Chip to cover a half-mile of ground.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the sport, that is seriously fast, the kind of pace you would expect from a stakes race in the middle of summer. Instead, it came in the first division of five on the night for the Bobby Weiss series, an ongoing racing event scheduled in the month of April at Pocono to honor the longtime track superintendent who retired in the offseason.
So, while this was a good field of young pacers, it was not the kind of field, or the kind of night for that matter (somewhat chilly) to produce such fast fractions. So the logical conclusion that most racing fans would come up with is that the horse setting that pace, Midas Blue Chip, was bound to fade.
Only he didn’t. With Jim Morrill doing the driving, the gelding from the barn of Brian Seidel sustained all the way to the finish line for a thrilling victory in 1:52. And so, another racing season was off and rolling in impressive fashion.
As fast as that race was, however, things got even faster as the night progressed. Later on in the Weiss series, Social Network updated his status with a victory in 1:51:4. Following that up, Three Artist got a win a tick faster in 1;51:3, the night’s fastest time. It was a flying start to a series that should be fun to watch as the month rolls on.
It was also nice to see our old friends in the driving and training colony already in fine form as well. Matt Kakaley, the leading driver in victories at Pocono in 2011, got off to a quiet start, going winless in the first nine races. He more than made up for that though, winning four of the last five races on the program. Morrill added three wins while David Miller picked up a double. Familiar faces George Napolitano Jr., Anthony Napolitano, Mike Simons, Tony Schadel, and Ray Schnittker all notched driving wins as well. On the training side, Ron Burke and James McGuire each had doubles on Opening Night.
For the bettors, there were excellent opportunities to be had. Even though favorites came up with a solid winning percentage on the night, taking five of the fourteen races, a few mid-price horses spiced up the payouts. In the 6th, Chase The Sun snuck through the passing lane for a win at 6-1. In the next race, Girls Wiilb Girls put together a gutty effort to win on the front end at 7-1. Later on in the 9th, Showmeyourstuff was first-over for a good part of the mile but still scored at 6-1.
The exotic wagers were pretty lucrative as well, as Pocono inaugurated a 10-cent Superfecta wager in a few races. In one of those races, the 7-8-3-4 combination paid off a stunning $38,868.80. It’s not Powerball money, I admit, but it’s not bad for a $2 ticket.
By the time veteran Caerleon Hanover took the win in the 14th and final race, fans had witnessed several thrilling finishes and many outstanding performances. Not bad at all for an Opening Night, setting the tone for what should be another memorable season here at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Remember that we race on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights in the early part of the season, with post time at 6:30 PM ET. Make sure to come out and join us.
Next week, we’ll have had a full schedule of racing under our belts by that time, which means we’ll had out the first edition of the Weekly Awards. Until then, we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
