Jul 8, 2013 | Racing
July 6, 2013
Grand Circuit Week at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs wrapped up with 12 Pennsylanvania All Stars races on a steamy Saturday night. The 3-year-olds took center stage, with four $30,000 divisions of colts and geldings on the pace, three $35,000 divisions of pacing fillies, and five $30,000 divisions of trotting colts and geldings.
3-YEAR-OLD TROTTING COLTS AND GELDINGS
Brew Master (Glidemaster-Dance Girl Dance), the 8-5 favorite with Dave Palone in the bike for trainer Marcus Marashian, hung on to win by a neck over Maxamillus in the first division in a career-best 1:54:2. Rossini picked up the show. The gate-to-wire victory was the second straight for Brew Master, with his last coming on a sloppy track at The Meadows.
Aperfectyankee (Yankee Glide-Asixpackfromperfect) glided up first-over and won going away by three lengths in a career-best 1:53:1 in the second division. Broadway Prince finished second while pacesetter Major Athens faded to third. 8-5 favorite Tigress’s Legacy went off-stride early. Trained and driven by Jim Oscarsson, Aperfectyankee, the third choice at 7-2, bounced back from a break in his last race for his second win of the season.
A blistering early pace set it up for Bluto (Donato Hanover-Blur) to come from off the pace and rally for a tight victory by a head over 7-5 favorite Smoother Ride in a career-best 1:52:4. Jimmy Takter trains and drives Bluto, who went off as the 7-2 third choice and won for the second time this year in six tries. Classicality picked up the show.
The fourth division produced a performance that matched a Pocono track record and a world record for 3-year-old trotting geldings. It’s Complicated (SJ’s Caviar-Madame Volo), the 5-1 third choice, was a powerhouse on the front end for driver George Napolitano Jr. and trainer Kris Hite, winning by 1 ¼ lengths over even-money favorite High Bridge. Cantab Abs was third. The winning time by It’s Complicated of 1:52:4 matches the Pocono mark and the world record on a 5/8 oval by sophomore geldings, which was set by I’m The Answer in 2011.
All Laid Out (Yankee Glide-Adelaide Hall), who was fresh off a big upset win in the Earl Beal Jr. consolation trot in his last start, followed it up with a romping win in All Stars action as the 6-5 favorite in the fifth division. With Dave Palone in the bike for trainer Noel Daley, the colt sat off a hot pace and pounced late to win going away by 5 ¾ lengths in 1:53. Sailer Eddie finished second and Boffin picked up the show.
3-YEAR-OLD PACING FILLIES
In the first division, Dave Palone gunned Power Pack Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere-Panned Out), the 5-2 second choice from the Tom Cancelliere barn, to the front end and the filly went all the way for a 2 ½-length victory in a career-best 1:50:2. Handsoffmycupcake was best of the rest in second while Offintothesunset grabbed the show. It was the first win in two tries this year for Power Pack Hanover and just her third lifetime in five career races.
A stretch duel between the top two choices was the highlight of the second split, with 9-5 second choice Icommandmyspirit (Dragon Again-Artists Flower) holiding off 7-5 favorite Carols Desire by a neck in a career-best 1:51:1. Champagne Tonight was third. Jim Morrill did the driving aboard Icommandmyspirit for trainer Ross Croghan, as the filly won for the fifth time in her last six races.
Once she took over on the front stretch, 1-9 favorite Somwherovrarainbow (Somebeachsomewhere-Rainbow Bloe) fought off all comers in the third division and won by 1 ½ lengths in 1:51, a new career mark. Sweet Lady Jane finished second while South Pacific grabbed third. Driven by Montrell Teague and trained by George Teague Jr., Somwherovrarainbow now has three wins this season, with the other two coming in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action.
3-YEAR-OLD PACING COLTS AND GELDINGS
In the first division of this group, 2-1 second choice Net Ten Eom (Somebeachsomewhere-Glowing Report) set bruising fractions after taking over the lead on the front stretch but held tough late to win by two lengths in 1:49:2, a new career-best. Big Time Promise came up short in second, just his second loss in nine races this season, while The Pan Poobah finished 3rd. George Napolitano Jr. drove Net Ten Eom for trainer Richard Silverman, as the colt picked up his third consecutive win, all at different tracks.
Some Kinda Beach (Somebeachsomewhere-Art’s Fantasy) didn’t disappoint as the 1-5 favorite in the second division, leading much of the way and powering home the second half of the mile after a great rate job by driver Marcus Miller in the first half. The colt from the Erv Miller barn ended up winning by 1 ¼ lengths in a career-best 1:51 for his sixth win in ten races this season. Here Comes Swifty finished second while Shock It To Em picked up the show.
Good Day Mate (Christian Cullen-Stienam’s Place) parlayed an excellent trip behind a speed duel to a late-kicking victory in the third division, as he rallied to win by a neck over 6-5 favorite Dedi’s Dragon in 1:49:3. Varadero Hanover came on for the show. Jim Morrill Jr. drove Good Day Mate for trainer Chris Oakes, as the 3-year-old colt picked up his second win of the season as the 9-5 second choice.
In the final division, Ultimate Beach Boy (Somebeachsomewhere-Ultimate Bet), the 8-5 second choice, powered home from the pocket to win by a length in 1:50:4. George Napolitano Jr. was in the bike for trainer Don Swick, as Ultimate Beach Boy won for the third time this season. John’s Polyview finished second while 4-5 favorite Fateful Choice faded late to third.
May 23, 2013 | Racing
May 18-24, 2013
We saw a lot of excellent performances at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs this week, so there were plenty of great candidates for Weekly Awards honors. Still, the action in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on Sunday night was so intense and electric that it needed to be retold over the course of a full article rather than just a few lines. So the Weekly Awards will return next week while we take the time this week to relive Sunday night’s outstanding performances, which included a superstar’s triumphant return to racing and an unexpected track record.
The Sire Stakes races on Sunday night, which were for 3-year-old colts and geldings on the pace, were the first of the season at Pocono, and it was a great way to kick things off. There were four divisions held in this glamour group, each carrying a hefty purse of $62,587. With that kind of dough on the line, it was a foregone conclusion that some of the best horses and horsemen in the country would be on the scene.
The action heated up right off the bat with the night’s first Sire Stakes split. In that race, Apprentice Hanover was made the favorite based on his outstanding two-year-old campaign in which he earned over $266,000. But it was his first start of the year, and he got off to a bit of a sluggish start in the race. By contrast, Martini Hanover, a 3-year-old gelding from the Chris Ryder barn, already had one start under his belt in 2013, so he was primed for a big effort.
With Dave Palone, no stranger to big Sire Stakes victories, in the bike, Martini Hanover took over the lead just shy of the half-mile marker and just rolled from there. He ended up with a romping 5 ½ length win over Apprentice Hanover in 1:49:3, which gave an early glimpse of the sizzling times to come.
Palone was at it again in the next Sire Stakes race, which was a bit of an odd one in that there were only six horses in the field and two of them went off-stride before the quarter-pole. Beach Memories had broken stride in his previous race so he knew well about issues with staying flat. But on this night, the 3-year-old gelding from the Brian Brown barn was not only flat but very fast, as Palone guided him to the front early and led him all the way home for an easy win in 1:51:2.
The third split featured the return to racing of Captaintreacherous, who was one of the sport’s transcendent stars as a 2-year-old in 2012 when he won 8 of 10 races and earned a stunning $918,253 for trainer Tony Alagna. Regular driver Tim Tetrick also made the trip to drive Captaintreacherous, who went off as the 1-9 favorite despite the nearly seven months off.
Any questions of rust were answered as Captaintreacherous glided to the lead with an effortless brush on the front stretch. From there, Tetrick let his horse do the rest, never lifting a finger as the star colt kept his competition at a safe distance and secured a 3 ½ length victory. He paced a mile of 1:49:4, including a final quarter of 26:3, without any urging whatsoever. That’s amazing for a first start of the year, and it’s also a good indication that Captaintreacherous is ready to build on his already fantastic resume.
That would have been a great highlight for any night’s racing, but there was still one split to go and Normandy Invasion had big plans for it. Also trained by Brian Brown and driven by Palone, the 3-year-old gelding won two of three starts to start his year at The Meadows. Still, he wasn’t favored in Sunday night’s race; that honor went to Lonewolf Currier, who had won five of his six career starts coming into the night.
Once again Palone played the aggressor, cutting loose Normandy Invasion on the front end. He built up a sizable lead and kept a scorching pace so that the rest of the field never had a chance. The gelding ended up a 2 3/4 length winner, but the eye-popping numbers were reflected in the timer: Normandy Invasion paced the mile in 1:48:4.
That time set a new track record for 3-year-old geldings on the pace, one that was set just last October at Pocono by Bet On The Law. So Captaintreacherous might have been the headliner, but the Grand Finale put forth by Normandy Invasion may have stolen the show. And considering the entire evening, it’s just the opening act for what promises to be an amazing Pennsylvania Sire Stakes season at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
May 20, 2013 | Racing
May 19, 2013
Most horses need a start after a long layoff before they can find their top form. Then again, most horses aren’t Captaintreacherous, who hit the ground pacing in his first start of the year on Sunday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, dominating his division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for 3-year-old colts and geldings.
Captaintreacherous was racing for the first time since a heartbreaking loss at Woodbine in the Breeders Crown in October capped a season in which he won 8 of 10 races and earned $918,253 while captivating the harness racing world with his electric talent. His 2013 debut came against a tough field of seven with an outside post, but the 3-year-old colt from the Tony Alagna barn was still made the 1-9 favorite.
The heavy favorite sat fourth early as several horses vied for the lead, which was held at the quarter by Twincreeks Jesse. Driver Tim Tetrick set Captaintreacherous in motion on the front stretch first-over and he was able to clear Twincreeks Jesse at the half. Although the fractions were taxing to that point, Captaintreacherous got no pressure on the back stretch and powered through the lane without any urging to a 3 ½ length victory in 1:49:4, with a closing kick of 26:3. Dedi’s Dragon rallied for second while Twincreeks Jesse faded to third.
Owned by Captaintreacherous Racing of Kentucky, Captaintreacherous now has nine wins in 11 career races, and his lifetime earnings, with the winner’s share of the $62,587 purse, now stand at $949,547.
Captaintreacherous may have been the headliner, but he had to share the spotlight on this night with driver Dave Palone, who won the other three Sire Stakes divisions on the card, and Normandy Invasion, who set a new track record in his Sire Stakes win.
Normandy Invasion, who came in from the Meadows for trainer Brian Brown, left from post position #5 in his split and quickly gunned to the front end. Palone urged Normandy Invasion around the first turn to rebuff a play for the lead from favored Lonewolf Currier. The 3-year-old gelding did the rest, building a huge lead up front and tripping the line in 1:48:4, 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Twilight Bonfire with Bigrisk picking up the show. That winning time bested the previous Pocono mark for 3-year-old geldings on the pace of 1:49:1, which was set by Bet On The Law in October of last year.
Palone also scored front end victories in the other two splits. He and trainer Brown hooked up for a second win with Beach Memories, who bounced back from a break in his last start to win easily in 1:51:2. Palone was also a winner for trainer Chris Ryder aboard Martini Hanover, whose second start of the year produced a 5 ½ length win in 1:49:3.
Sep 5, 2012 | Racing
August 31-September 6, 2012
We’re going to put the Weekly Awards on hiatus this week, because I’d like to devote all of the space I have in this column to the thrilling action that took place last Saturday on Pennsylvania Championship night. With four Pennsylvania Sire Stakes races, each with a purse of $200,000 up for grabs, you can bet the action was frenzied, furious, and fast. Very, very fast.
For those of you who might be unaware of how it works, two and three-year-old horses compete all summer long in tracks across the state, amassing points based on their performances in the Sire Stakes preliminary legs. Those horses with the highest point totals them move on the big-money finals, where they get a chance to take home the winner’s share of the huge purse and claim bragging rights as best in the state.
On Saturday night, we at Pocono were honored to host the three-year-old finals, and each one of the four races was memorable in its way, either for a standout performance or a thrilling conclusion.
The action started out with the trotting fillies, where one of the sport’s true superstars had a chance to strut her stuff. Check Me Out, trained by Ray Schnittker, headed into Saturday night’s final with a gaudy record of 22 wins in 26 career races and over $1.63 million dollars in her bank account. Schnittker did the driving as well and had one mission: Send his filly to the front and let her roll.
The result was one of the most mesmerizing performances in Pocono history. Check Me Out powered to the front on the first turn and stayed there all the way home to win by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:51:3. Not only did that race set a track record, it set a world record for a 3-year-old trotting filly on any size track. Considering Pocono is a three turn track and other longer-distance tracks require only two turns, that is an accomplishment that is almost beyond comprehension.
If Check Me Out warmed things up, Economy Terror set the track ablaze in the pacing fillies class. Then again, it shouldn’t have surprised us that this powerhouse from the Chris Oakes barn would be ready to perform on Pennsylvania Championship night. Last year at this time, she came home a winner in the 2-year-old pacing fillies class in world record fashion shortly before she won the Breeders Crown in her division.
With that kind of history, driver Dave Palone knew that he needed just to get the filly to the lead and then let her do the rest. After setting scorching fractions to the top of the stretch, Economy Terror kicked away from her foes to a romping five-length victory over some of the best fillies in the country. The winning time of 1:49 was, you guessed it, a new world record for any 3-year-old filly on a 5/8-mile oval. Now that’s how you defend a title.
The male half of the championship races didn’t produce any world records, but they did produce great finishes and deserving winners. In the 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings division, My MVP was the even-money favorite, and driver Mike LaChance drove him like one by sending him to the front. Yet it wasn’t an easy lead, as he had to work hard to clear and then faced a first-over challenge from Solvato.
Watching it all from the pocket was Magic Tonight, a colt from the Noel Daley barn. The patience of driver Eric Goodell paid off, as Magic Tonight got his chance in the stretch and snuck past the tiring favorite for the victory by a half-length in 1:54.
All that was left was the 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings, and Sweet Lou had the racing history that suggested that he would defend his title much like Economy Terror did earlier in the night. Dapper Dude had some other ideas. The colt from the Bob McIntosh barn had been performing pretty well himself in the 2012 season, and he raced unafraid against the heavy favorite.
Give credit to driver Jim Morrill Jr., who did some nifty weaving in and out of traffic to get Dapper Dude perched right behind Sweet Lou at the top of the stretch. From there, it was no contest, as Dapper Dude blew by to win going away by 3 ½ lengths in 1:49.
It was a fitting end to a great night of harness racing at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, and yet another example of why nothing tops the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes in terms of racing excitement.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Sep 1, 2012 | Racing
WILKES-BARRE PA — Check Me Out obliterated the world record for 3YO trotting fillies on a 5/8-mile track when she cruised to a 1:51.3 victory in her $200,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship Saturday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, the highlight of Championship Night for the state-sired sophomores.
The daughter of Donato Hanover reached the lead nearing the 1/4 from post six for trainer/driver Ray Schnittker and put up splits of 27.3, 55.2, and 1:23 while looking comfortable and confident. Superstar Hanover maintained valiant contact from the pocket, and Maven started her patented grind at the 5/8, but neither could approach the winner of $2.7 million, with the final clocking breaking the world record shared by Hidden Viggorish (in a PaSS final) and Holier Than Thou (set at Pocono earlier this year) by an amazing 1 3/5 seconds. Maven was up for second late over Superstar Hanover.
“She was good at the gate, and once we made the top I was very confident,” noted Schnittker, co-owner with Charles Iannazzo, after the race. “Very strong throughout,” he continued, adding that her next start would be at Lexington.
The Western Terror filly Economy Terror set a world record in winning her pacing fillies Championship last year, held at Pocono, and the return to “home cookin’” (trainer Chris Oakes is based at the mountain track) provided “déjà vu all over again” – another world record, this time in 1:49, a tick better than place finisher’s Big McDeal’s seven-week-old mark, and the fastest PA Sire Stakes Championship ever (spoiler alert: tied by Dapper Dude two races later.)
After a contentious 25.4 opener, “Super Sire Stakes Finals driver” Dave Palone (he’s won 25 the last 10+ years; his nearest competitor has 7) guided his filly to the command position, and later spoke of the middle splits of 54 and 1:21.3 as “actually a good breather for her.” The afterburners kicked in approaching headstretch, however, as Economy Terror opened wide daylight to become only the fifth 2YO-3YO Sire Stakes “repeater” in modern times (all fillies, and all but one pacers). Chuck Pompey, Howard Taylor, and Ed Gold saw their 2011 divisional champion surpass $1.2 million in earnings.
Dapper Dude, just a half-length off in the North America Cup, easily caught defending champion Sweet Lou in the stretch while taking the colt pace in 1:49 – a personal mark, and equaling the newly-minted mark of Economy Terror as the quickest in Sire Stakes Championship history.
Sweet Lou got to the half in a mild 55, but then was forced to pace a 26.1 backside to keep out first-over Easy Again – a speed which allowed driver Jim Morrill Jr. to drop the second-over “Dude” into a gaping pocket nearing the 3/4. With the breather around the turn, Dapper Dude easily picked up Sweet Lou late, with DD’s earnings now over $550,000 for trainer Bob McIntosh, co-owner with Al McIntosh Holdings Inc.
An alert drive by Eric Goodell was the key to the victory of Magic Tonight as the Andover Hall colt notched the other trotting event in 1:54, a stakes record. Goodell left for the top and yielded, then made another move when he saw favored My MVP forward-bound and yielded for the 2-hole behind the chalk. The Pocono Pike then provided the passage to victory for Magic Tonight, a tough second to Hambo winner Market Share at Vernon last week, as he pushed his earnings over $430,000 for trainer Noel Daley and owner Adam Victor & Son LLC. Magic Tonight was also the only outright preliminary pointleader to take a Championship (Economy Terror was co-leader in her section).
