Apr 21, 2015 | Racing
JL Cruze was once again on “cruze”-control Tuesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, winning his $15,000 division of the fourth and preliminary leg of the Bobby Weiss Series for male trotters in 1:52.4 on Tuesday, April 14th.
JL and “JC” – Hall of Fame driver John Campbell – moved rapidly from fourth nearing the quarter to take over the lead from main challenger Opulent Yankee under the wire the first time, and the triumphant Crazed gelding was not threatened from there, sprinting home in 55.4 – 27.2 to keep the game Opulent Yankee 1¼ lengths at bay at the finish.
JL Cruze, a winner of over $140,000 already this season, is now perfect in two Weiss starts for trainer Eric Ell and owners Ken Wood, Bill Dittmar Jr., and Steve Iaquinta, and already has 10 wins in but 12 seasonal starts. With no show wagering, JL Cruze attracted $8329 in a $9658 place pool, but the real value may have been the JL Cruze-Opulent Yankee exacta, which was a big overlay at $3.20.
In the other Weiss section for this class, the Holiday Road colt Holiday My Way not only recorded his first Weiss score, but he also broke his maiden, and in fine fashion with a 1:56.2 personal mark. Trained by Shawn Simons and driven by his dad, “The Trot Man” Mike Simons, Holiday My Way made an early move to the lead and went on to win for Rick and Regina Beinhauer and the T L P Stable.
Tuesday’s Pocono card also featured the last prelim round for pacing females (both of these $30,000 Championships will be next Tuesday). The first section saw The Beach Nextdoor win her third straight in Weiss competition, with the Somebeachsomewhere mare shading 27.3 in the final panel to equal her lifetime mark of 1:53 as a “pocket rocket.” Jim Morrill Jr. was again in the sulky for trainer Brewer Adams and owners Adams Racing LLC and Brian Clark.
Like The Beach Nextdoor, Donttellruss used rallying tactics from the two-hole in the other cut, gaining into the 27.3 kicker to win in 1:53.3 over her stablemate in the Ron Burke barn, Allthatjazz De Vie, marking the second straight week that that pair has finished 1-2. The victorious mare by Panspacificflight was driven by Andrew McCarthy for the Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Lawrence Kerr, and Frank Baldachino.
Apr 8, 2015 | Racing
Four of the first five winners at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Tuesday night, April 7th, paid the 5 cents to a dollar legal minimum profit in winning, including three visitors to Victory Lane during $15,000 third round series action of the Bobby Weiss Series – with the quartet tallying by a combined 21 lengths.
The trotting males were up first, and two Meadowlands invader took all the money, both pari-mutuel and purse. First up was the Crazed gelding JL Cruze, who has already bankrolled $133,000+ this year winning three series at the Jersey oval and racking up an effortless 12¼-length score in his mountain debut for trainer Eric Ell and driver John Campbell. The winner tripped the timer in 1:54.1 over a sloppy surface after making every pole a winning one for owners Ken Wood, William Dittmar Jr., and Stephen Iaquinta.
Opulent Yankee, who has caused the “2” in JL Cruze’s 11-9-2-0 season’s record, was next up, and he was 3½ lengths to the good at the end of his 1:54.2 triumph. Team Orange Crush, driver Andy and trainer Julie Miller, guide the fortunes of the Muscles Yankee gelding for Little E LLC, Arthur Geiger, Jason Settlemoir, and David Stolz.
In the first of two pacing mare divisions, the Burke / Weaver Bruscemi entry took all the money and finished 1-2, as Donttellruss got her first Weiss win in two starts, turning back Allthatjazz De Vie, who was successful in her initial series outing, in 1:53.3. Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi share ownership of the Andrew McCarthy-driven winning daughter of Panspacificflight with Lawrence Karr and Frank Baldachino.
In the second distaff sidewheelers cut, a Burke entry was also favored, but they had to settle for second and third behind the only two-time Weiss winner in this section, the Somewheresomebeach mare The Beach NextDoor, taking a new mark of 1:53 under the guidance of Jim Morrill Jr. The winner’s dam is named On The Choo Choo, and those are the tactics Morrill successfully employed for trainer Brewer Adams and the partnership of Adams Racing LLC and Brian Clark.
The fourth 1-20* horse, in the card’s opener, was the well-regarded altered son of The Panderosa, Heavenly Knox, who made short work of his assignment in a personal best of 1:51.3. Triumphant in the Walter Russell Series Final at The Meadows in his last start, Heavenly Knox is now 8 for 9 lifetime, with driver David Miller and trainer Mark Ford entrusted with the care of the winner by new owners George and Rose Bonomo.
The four “sureshots” attracted plenty of money “underneath” as well, as $60,000 to show among all but JL Cruze; his race had no show betting, so over $20,000 went into the place pool on him.
(But all is not chalk in the Pocono pari-mutuels: Hall of Famer John Campbell paid $25.60 to win in a race on the card, and he finished third, beaten a length, at 75-1 in another.)
Apr 4, 2015 | Racing
Classic Belisima stamped herself as the mare to beat in the trotting female division of the Wednesday, April 1st Bobby Weiss Series at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, winning her $15,000 second round division in 1:53.3, while Dress For Success joined “Belisima” as a Weiss repeat winner with a 1:55.1 tally in the other cut.
A daughter of Crazed, Classic Belisima was just overpowering while taking a new lifetime mark, trotting home in 28.1 to extend what was a 1 ¼-length lead at the three-quarters to a 9 3/4-length triumph. A seven-time winner in nine seasonal outings, “Belisima,” which means “most beautiful” in Italian (usually with two “s”’s), certainly looks that way from every angle to trainer John Cabot and owner William Cantrell. (She even has her own “video,” with music by Adele, on YouTube – her yearling footage.)
Dress For Success also kept her record unblemished in Weiss action, and also got a new speed badge with a backstretch brush to the lead to win by 5 ½ lengths. The daughter of Infinitif is conditioned by Christopher Freck for owners Stacey Ruddick and Denise Dennis. (And “Dress For Success” is of course named after the famous John Molloy book that taught “power business dressing” to corporate America.)
Mar 27, 2015 | Racing
The favorites used different methodologies in their two $15,000 divisions of the first round of the Bobby Weiss Series for trotting females Wednesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but both ended up in the desired positions – home first, and then in the Winners Circle.
Classic Belisima headed right to the front in her division and was never headed, winning by almost 7 lengths in a career best 1:55.2 despite the track being rated only “good.” David Miller was sulkysitting behind the daughter of Crazed, who now has six wins in eight seasonal starts, for trainer John Cabot and owner William Cantrell.
In the other Weiss section, Dress For Success had to travel the difficult two-wide route without cover, but she proved to have enough late to turn back Linda Marie by a half-length in 1:57.1. Matt Kakaley, handling the daughter of Infinitif for the first time, obviously got along well with her by getting the job done for trainer Christopher Freck and owners Stacey Ruddick and Denise Dennis.
Four-time defending Downs dashwinning driver champion George Napolitano Jr. visited Victory Lane six times on Wednesday’s 13-race card. “Georgie Nap” will next get a chance to add to his local totals when the Downs resumes racing on Saturday, with the first race scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
