Sep 2, 2015 | 50th anniversary of racing, Racing
The richest Sire Stakes Championship series begins Saturday night, September 5th, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono will host four $350,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship for three-year-olds. Each of the four divisions will also have a $60,000 Consolation race; the total program on Saturday at Pocono will distribute purses of $1,770,000.
COLT PACERS
$350,000 Championship – race 12
$60,000 Consolation – race 5
Championship record: 1:48.4, McWicked, 2014 (fastest Championship in PA history)
Defending champion from 2YO year: Yankee Bounty
Leading pointwinner in four preliminaries: Lost For Words
Most of the attention in the “glamour division” will be focused on Wakizashi Hanover, already a winner of over $840,000 this year, including the North America Cup Final, and regarded as second-best on the North American scene to the amazing Wiggle It Jiggleit. Wakizashi has driven post five for the Championship, and as usual trainer Joann Looney-King has tapped Tim Tetrick to drive the altered son of Dragon Again for the Tri County Stable of Nova Scotia. The sophomore has experience over the track, winning a Hempt elimination and then finished fourth from a difficult draw, and following that outing up with a second to “Wiggle” in the Battle of the Brandywine.
It’s unusual to see a defending champion and a leading prelim pointswinner regarded as “outsiders” in the field, but Yankee Bounty and Lost For Words, respectively, are not only figurative outsiders, but the literal outsiders as well in the field of eight – Yankee Bounty, starting from post seven for all-time Sire Stakes driving champion Dave Palone,does come off a 1:49.3 win in a Sire Stakes prelim, while Lost For Words (post eight, David Miller) was the only three-time winner in the Sires prelims.
COLT TROTTERS
$350,000 Championship – race 11
$60,000 Consolation – race 4
Championship record: 1:52.4, Father Patrick, 2014
Defending champion from 2YO year: Billy Flynn (the only 3YO who did not qualify for these finals)
Leading pointwinner in four preliminaries: Wicker Hanover
Wicker Hanover and Uncle Lasse were both three-time Sires prelim winners. Wicker Hanover, an Explosive Matter colt who has done well on or off the pace, will start from post six for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Ross Croghan, and the Christer Haggstorm Racing Stable Inc., while the Donato Hanover colt Uncle Lasse, third in both the Hambletonian Final and the Colonial, drew post two for driver David Miller, trainer Jimmy Takter, and owners Solveig’s Racing Partners and Goran Falk.
A horse conspicuous by his absence is Pinkman, #2 in the prelim pointstandings while achieving three victories, but when he won the Hambletonian trainer Takter chose the Triple Crown road for him, and he goes Saturday night at Yonkers in the Yonkers Trot, the second Crown leg. But even with two recent losses to Crazy Wow, in the Colonial and Yonkers Trot elim, Pinkman likely would have been a big favorite here, and using the “glass is half full” theory, the race is much more competitive this way.
FILLY PACERS
$350,000 Championship – race 10
$60,000 Consolation – race 3
Championship record: 1:49, Economy Terror
Defending champion from 2YO year: Southwind Roulette
Leading pointwinner in four preliminaries: Somewhere Sweet
Perhaps the best testimony to the contentiousness of this division all year, and in theory here Saturday, is the fact that prelim pointleader Somewhere Sweet won only once in the prelims. But the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, trained by Brian Brown for Miller’s Stable, has been a very consistent miss, winning half her ten seasonal starts and never finishing worse than fourth, and she draws the favorable post two for driver David Miller.
There were two two-time prelim winners in this division, but for Saturday they had the misfortune of drawing the two outside spots on the gate: Serious Filly (PP7, also trained by Brown, Tim Tetrick listed) and Safe From Terror (PP8, trainer Ron Burke, also listing Tetrick on the early sheet).
FILLY TROTTERS
$350,000 Championship – race 9
$60,000 Consolation – race 14
Championship record: 1:51.3, Check Me Out, 2012 (fastest trot Champion ever)
Defending champion from 2YO year: Wild Honey
Leading pointwinner in four preliminaries: Sarcy (not entered), Smokinmombo #2
Last year’s divisional champion Wild Honey has come back sharply in 2015, with a win in the Hambletonian Oaks Final and two Sire Stakes wins. The Cantab Hall filly is likely to be held as the horse to beat despite drawing post eight for driver Dave Palone, trainer Jimmy Takter, and the ownership combine of Takter, Fielding, Liverman, and Fielding.
Jimmy Takter is also the trainer of Sarcy, who was #1 in the prelim points, but that filly has not raced since finishing fifth in the Oaks Final on August 8 and has not won since June 25, so she is not entered in the Championship. But Wild Honey is certainly a fine “backup plan.”
FINISHING LINES – Dave Palone has 38 career wins in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships, and the driver in second needs a telescope to see him even though winning five Championships last year – Yannick Gingras, with a total of 12. We know Yannick will not duplicate that output in 2015, as he will be driving Pinkman at Yonkers on Saturday. Palone, however, has a call in three of the four Championships, and there are two to-be-resolved double calls in the race he currently is not listed.
Jul 21, 2015 | Racing
Somebeachsomewhere, newly-installed into the Living Harness Horse Hall of Fame, sired three of the five winners in the $268,940 first round of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-old pacing colts Wednesday night, July 15th, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
The trio of winners by the great horse included two Ron Burke trainees: Check Six (out of Southwind Vanna), who quarter-moved to the top then snapped home in 55.4 – 27.3 to tally in 1:53.4 for driver Matt Kakaley and owners Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, William Switala and James Martin, along with 3 Brothers Stables’ JK Will Power (whose dam is Whats New Pussycat), who paced an individual last quarter of 27.1 to be a 1:54.2 “pocket rocket” for pilot Yannick Gingras.
The other SBSW winner was Canadian invader Carter Beach (dam: Flaming Diablo), who was in the “feature division” which contained three of the five Pennsylvania All-Star winners earlier this month. But in his first start “south of the border,” Carter Beach showed his mettle by grinding uncovered in a 56.1 last half to post a neck triumph for driver Jody Jamieson and trainer/father Carl, the latter co-owner with Thomas Kyron and George Harrison.
Neither the fastest winner or the longest-priced winner was a son of “Somebeach,” however. Speed honors went in the opening division to the Western Ideal-Stolly Up Bluechip colt Spider Man Hanover, who produced a superhero-like 27.1 brush to the lead in the third quarter to win in 1:52.1 for driver David Miller, trainer Brian Brown, and owners Country Club Acres, Kenneth Vauper, Mike Mallett, and Milton Leeman.
50-1 shot Whata Twist, last and gapping at the half, and then shoved four-wide late on the far turn due to chain-reaction interference, still managed to rally in the final strides for a 1:53 triumph. The Quik Pulse Mindale-Passage colt, driven by Brett Miller for trainer Chris Ryder, co-owner with Diamond Creek Racing, lived up to his name by producing a $107 return for a $2 win investment to his scattered backers.
May 19, 2015 | Racing
Trainer Brian Brown, trainer of 2014 divisional and Jugette champion Color’s A Virgin and a resident of Delaware OH, may be having himself a two-day party late this September at the famed half-miler, as he already has five different Pennsylvania Sire Stakes-winning three-year-old pacing horses, three fillies and now the two colts who continued the hot trainer’s winning ways Saturday night, May 16th, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, being among the four winners in the $226,168 first leg of their Sires action.
As the track turned “sloppy” for the fifth race Sires division (Pocono is about 150 miles northeast of Baltimore as the crow flies, and the Preakness rain started about two hours before the storms hit northeast PA), Rise Up Now remained undefeated in five outings this year, tucking in the pocket down the back and then catching leader Blood Brother in the stretch to post a 1½-length 1:51.3 over a newly-christened “sloppy” track. Blood Brother had snapped off splits of 26.1, 55.3, and 1:22.2, but the 53 usage in the odd-numbered quarters did not allow him to hold off the Somewheresomebeach gelding and driver Simon Allard, who piloted the Brown trainee for King McNamara of Florida, the only non-Buckeye in the ownership group which includes the Strollin Stable, William Robinson, and Country Club Acres.
Brown is now two-for-two seasonally with the Well Said colt Lost For Words, who reclaimed the lead down the backstretch, opened up four lengths turning for home, then held off the late charge of the game little Allbeef N Nobull to win by 1½ lengths in 1:51.4 in the night’s second division, when the track was still “fast.” Lost For Words, a finalist in both the Governors Cup and Breeders Crown last year, was driven by Jim Morrill Jr. for the three Ohioans who share in Rise Up Now’s ownership and another Buckeye, Richard Lombardo.
For years Brown has done very well in the Pennsylvania program, but this year his numbers are only slightly short of unbelievable. He’s perfect in five Pocono starts, and at The Meadows he sports a 13-9-3-0 tally, for a Keystone State total of 18-14-3-0 – which produces a mind-boggling state UTR of .870!
McArdles Lightning teamed with driver Anthony Napolitano to post a 6-1 upset in taking the first division, coming from last at the half in the seven-horse field and blitzing his own back two quarters in 54.2 to equal his lifetime mark of 1:51. Steve Elliott conditions the McArdle ridgling (double thoroughbred Triple Crown racewinner American Pharoah is also a ridgling) for the Lightning Stable.
In the final Sires heat, Wazikashi Hanover was a pocket rocket in catching last year’s 2YO Sires champion, Yankee Bounty, by 1¼ lengths, with the time on the sloppy track 1:52. Yankee Bounty overcame the outside “eight-ball” to post splits of 27, 57, and 1:24.4, but “Wazikashi,” a Dragon Again gelding, was relentless and gained into the 27.1 kicker for trainer Joann Looney-King and the Tri County Stable. Driver Jim Morrill Jr. joined trainer Brown as a double winner in the Sires races.
May 18, 2015 | Racing
Delaware OH resident Brian Brown is the defending training titleholder in the Jugette, having won last year with divisional champion Color’s A Virgin – and he’s giving every sign that he’s looking to take his second straight come September 23.
In a 3PF Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at The Meadows last week, Brown sent out winner Serious Filly along with second-place finishers Somewhere Sweet and Triple V Hanover. So for Sunday, May 10th, in the $128,000 Pennsylvania All-Stars divisional event at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Brown decides to keep out Serious Filly but enter the other two – and those fillies accounted for half the four All-Stars divisions, with both handled for Brown by Hall of Famer David Miller, the all-time leading driver at Delaware.
First up was Somewhere Sweet, like her stablemate a daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, whom Miller rallied from the pocket into a 55 back half to take a head decision over pacesetting Southwind Roulette, last year’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion, in 1:52, a new mark, for Miller’s Stable Inc. of Kentucky.
Then it was Triple V Hanover’s turn, and that filly tucked, brushed to the lead by the 55 half, and went on to win by 1¼ lengths in 1:50.3, also a personal best and by far the fastest of the four All-Stars divisions. King Mcnamara of FL and the Strollin Stable of OH, part of the partnership behind Brown’s All-Star colt winner Rise Up Now last night, share ownership in the victorious miss with Buckeye Donald Robinson.
Doctor Terror, who made a break in the Sire Stakes last week, atoned this week from the outermost post seven in her cut, making the lead past the quarter and coming home in 55 to win by a neck over Storm Point, a Sires winner last week, while lowering her personal best to 1:52.3. The daughter of Western Terror is owned by two Ontarians, trainer Blake Macintosh and Stuart Macintosh, and had another “Mac” in her corner — driver Mark Macdonald.
In the other divisions Arts Jem, beaten a neck by Serious Filly last week, enjoyed the lack of Brown competition, rallying quickly deep in the Pocono Pike, two inside the pacesetter, to edge Macarena Mama, in the Pike to her right, in a mark of 1:52.1. The Art Official miss stepped her personal back half in 54.3 to win for trainer Jim King Jr. and two Lincoln Staters, driver Tim Tetrick and the CC Racing LLC of Ray Kusinski.
May 12, 2015 | Racing
Driver Jim Morrill Jr. took the first two divisions of the $96,000 Pennsylvania All-Stars event for three-year-old colt pacers Saturday night, Nay 9, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, putting new marks on Wakizashi Hanover (1:50.2) and Blood Brother (1:51), before missing the “sweep” by a nose when Rise Up Now (1:50.2, driver Simon Allard) edged Allbeef N Nobull.
Wakizashi Hanover, an altered son of Dragon Again trained by Joanne Looney-King for the Tri County Stable of Nova Scotia, kept his seasonal tally perfect in two starts in winning by 1¼ lengths. Wakizashi took the early lead in 27, saw first 2014 PA Sire Stakes champion Yankee Bounty and then Dragon Eddy brush by him to the 54.3 half, which necessitated his moving first-over ahead of the oncoming Cardiac Fashion, who already had skirted trouble at two points in the mile. The winner took the lead past the 1:22 3/4s, with Yankee Bounty vacating the collapsing pocket when Cardiac Fashion tipped wide, but Wakizashi Hanover already had the jump, with Yankee Bounty able to clear back to the winner’s inside to edge Cardiac Fashion by a neck for second.
Blood Brother paced his own last half in 54 flat to be up by a neck over a stubborn Rufo in the second cut. The Somebeachsomewhere gelding was taken off the gate and was rambunctious back in fifth as Joe Hill and Rufo were the prime disputers in the 26.4 opener, and was still seven lengths behind at the 55.3 half. Morrill had to take the uncovered route as Rufo was going unmolested on the lead, and had gained to within three lengths by the 1:23.2 3/4s. Taking the far turn very well, Blood Brother showed great ability to go up by a neck over his rival in early stretch, but Rufo never let the margin get bigger than that as he put up a fierce struggle down the lane. The talented winner still looks like he’ll learn from (and improve with) more racing, and with Jimmy Takter training him for Diamond Creek Racing and the J&T Silva Stables LLC, it seems likely he’ll build on his 2 for 2 2015 start.
Morrill had Allbeef N Nobull on top twice before the 3/8 in the third cut, but the deck reshuffles more on the Pocono racetrack than it does in the casino, and after the 26.3 quarter Rise Up Now and driver Allard were following their main rival to the top, hitting the half in 55.2 and the 3/4s in 1:23.1. The stretch duel boiled down to these two, with “Allbeef” gaining in the famed Pocono Pike, and might have taken it all were he bigger than the smallish sophomore he is, but Rise Up Now, also an altered son of Somebeachsomewhere, held gamely and won by the smallest margin to give him both a perfect yearly record after four starts and a new mark. Trainer Brian Brown, the defending Jugette champion with Color’s A Virgin and who has a Pennsylvania UTR this year of (no typo) .821 at the moment, may find himself with a ticket to the Thursday big race at the Delaware dance for the Strollin Stable, King McNamara (the Floridian is the only non-Buckeye in the ownership group), William Robinson, and Country Club Acres Inc.
