Jul 2, 2013 | Racing
June 30, 2013
Frau Blucher picked up her fourth victory in as many tries this year, highlighting Pennsylvania All Stars action at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on Sunday night. The All Stars races are part of Grand Circuit Week at Pocono.
Frau Blucher (Broadway Hall-My Angel), who had already won three Pennsylvania Sire Stakes races to start her 2013 campaign, continued her dominance with a half-length win over Fashion Athena in one of three $35,000 divisions of All Stars races held for 3-year-old trotting fillies. With Jim Morrill Jr. in the bike for trainer Chris Oakes, Frau Blucher won in 1:53:4.
Morrill and Oakes also hooked up for a win in another 3-year-old filly trotting division of the Pennsylvana All Stars, as Classic Martine (Classic Photo-Drinking Days) scored in 1:53:1. In the final division of that group, Promisemethis (Chip Chip Hooray-Promisemespring), driven by Dan Rawlings and trained by Rick Beinhauer, prevailed in 1:54:2.
There were also six $30,000 All Star divisions of the 2-year-old colts and geldings on the pace held at Pocono. The winners were: All Star Partner (Four Starzzz Shark-Faithful Ideal), driven by Mike Simons and trained by John Butenschoen, in 1:52:4; Jack Attack (Allamerican Native-Pocket Queens), driven by Ron Pierce and trained by Bill Mullin, in 1:53:4; At Press Time (Western Terror-So Right), driven by David Miller and trained by Sam DePinto, in 1:53:4; Stevensville (Somebeachsomewhere-Wild West Show), driven by Simons and trained by Ray Schnittker; Let’s Drink On It (Art Official-Letmedowneasy), driven by Pierce and trained by Joe Seekman, in 1:52; and Cabana Boy Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere-Current Hanover), driven by Matt Kakaley and trained by Oakes, in 1:52:3.
Jul 2, 2013 | Racing
Captaintreacherous might be known as Captain Courageous after the way he won Saturday’s (June 29) $500,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial for 3-year-old pacers at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Starting from the outermost spot on the gate, Captaintreacherous and driver Tim Tetrick were on the outside for the entire mile — three wide at points — but managed to win by a neck over Vegas Vacation in 1:49.2 over a track turned sloppy by heavy rain roughly an hour before the Hempt.
Captaintreacherous, the defending Pacer of the Year, improved to 5-for-5 this year for trainer Tony Alagna and the ownership group known as Captaintreacherous Racing. The colt has won $808,293 this season and $1.72 million in his career thanks to 13 victories in 15 lifetime starts.
“He was tremendous,” Alagna said. “To do what he did over this track the way it is after the downpour, if that’s not a mile in (1):47 then I don’t know what is on a good track. To be out as far as he was over this, it’s a monster mile.
“I had confidence. When he landed second over I knew this horse fitness wise was in great shape. I told Timmy he’s never been better tonight warming up. I told him he was going to be out the whole way, but I still think he’ll get the job done.”
Captaintreacherous’ performance was part of a $2 million card dubbed Sun Stakes Saturday at Pocono Downs. Foiled Again won the $500,000 Ben Franklin Pace for older male pacers, becoming the first pacer to surpass $5 million in lifetime earnings, while Corky won the $500,000 Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old trotters and I Luv The Nitelife won the $300,000 James M. Lynch Memorial for 3-year-old filly pacers.
In the Hempt, Captaintreacherous raced outside behind the cover of Sunfire Blue Chip and then Word Power before battling through the stretch to pull out the win. Vegas Vacation was a fast-closing second and Sunfire Blue Chip finished third.
“I knew we’d never seen this horse’s bottom,” Alagna said. “Tonight off the last turn, here he comes again. I thought Sunfire Blue Chip had a pretty good jump on him up the backside, but this horse does not want to quit. He has the will to win. That’s what it takes.
“That’s part of being a champion. That’s part of what great horses do; they find a way to win. They win.”
I Luv The Nitelife also started from an outside post with Tetrick in the sulky in the Lynch, but was able to get favorable position behind pacesetter Shebestingin before rallying in the stretch for a 1:50 win. Shebestingin finished second and Jerseylicious was third.
“I had a feeling that one way or another she was going to get where she needed to go,” trainer Chris Ryder said. “She got the right spot and it worked out. He drove her perfect and she’s a special horse.”
I Luv The Nitelife has won five of six races this year, including the $384,044 Fan Hanover Stakes on June 15, and nine of 16 starts in her career. The Lynch victory pushed her lifetime earnings to more than $1 million for owners Richard and Joanne Young.
“I saw (Shebestingin) coming and I thought about not letting her go, but I figured she’d carry me there, and she did,” Tetrick said. “My mare exploded when she got out.”
Corky, with David Miller in the bike for trainer Jimmy Takter, won the Beal by one length over Picture This in 1:54.3. Dontyouforgetit, also trained by Takter, finished third.
Smilin Eli, the favorite based on his 4-for-4 career record entering the Beal, started from post nine and was able to get the lead after the opening quarter-mile. He held the advantage until the stretch, but Corky was able to claim the top spot with a first-over effort. Smilin Eli finished fifth.
Corky has won three of seven races this year — with his wins coming consecutively since a second-place finish to Smilin Eli in the New Jersey Sire Stakes championship on June 1. Corky, owned by Christina Takter, John Fielding and Jim Fielding, has won six of 14 career races and never finished worse than third while earning $575,968.
“He’s a very laid-back horse,” Takter said. “I always knew he had something deep within him; he’s been very consistent. He’s coming into himself right. He ended up with some bad luck last year. He got like a thousand warts on his hind legs — I’ve never seen anything like it — and thank you (veterinarian) Patty Hogan. She had to burn them away and it took a whole day for her to do it.
“I think we have a hell of a shot in the future with him. He’s been extremely good his last three starts.”
Miller hopes Corky is his horse for August’s Hambletonian Stakes.
“He’s getting better all the time and tonight’s another step closer to it,” Miller said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hopefully he can hold on another month.”
Times were fast prior to the stakes slate getting underway, with multiple world-record performances on the card. But during the middle of the eighth race, the preferred pace won by Abelard Hanover in 1:48, heavy rain arrived and soaked the track for nearly 20 minutes.
Abelard Hanover’s time equaled the fastest mile ever by a gelding pacer on a five-eighths-mile track.
Bolt The Duer, driven by Mark MacDonald for trainer Peter Foley, won the $50,000 Franklin Consolation in 1:47.4, equaling the fastest mile ever paced on a five-eighths track and setting the track record for Pocono Downs.
Beach Memories, driven by Yannick Gingras for trainer Brian Brown, won the $50,000 Hempt Consolation in 1:48.3, equaling the world record for 3-year-old gelding pacers on a five-eighths oval and setting the track record for 3-year-old gelding pacers at Pocono Downs.
All Laid Out, driven by Andrew McCarthy for trainer Noel Daley, won the $50,000 Beal Consolation in 1:53.1.
Earlier on the card, 4-year-old Uncle Peter, trained by Takter, won the preferred handicap trot in 1:50.3, setting the record for the quickest mile ever by a trotter on a five-eighths track. He eclipsed the mark of 1:50.4 set by Googoo Gaagaa at Pocono Downs last year.
“I’ve been high on him all his life,” Takter said. “To see him go a world record today was an unbelievable feeling.”
Ken Weingartner for Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs
Jun 19, 2013 | Racing
June 18, 2013
The combination of trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. and driver David Miller scored a pair of wins with the two fastest times in Stallion Series action for three-year-old trotting fillies on Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. There were five divisions held on the night, each with a purse of $20,000.
The Miller-Morgan combo first scored with Choose Happy (Donato Hanover-Tady Strikes Again), whose winning time of 1:54:3 was a more than a second faster than the previous quickest winning time in the Stallion Series splits. A few starts later, the duo did it again even faster with Choose Happy’s half-sister UF Tady’s Donato (Donato Hanover-Tady’s Comer), who rolled in 1:54:2.
The other fillies winning Stallion Series divisions at Pocono on Wednesday night: Changed It All (Yankee Glide-Rhine River), driven by Jim Morrill Jr. and trained by Michael Hall, in 1:56:2; Bethel Hanover (Donato Hanover-Beignet Hanover), driven by Morrill and trained by Staffan Lind, in 1:57:3; and Shouda Cuda Wuda (SJ’s Caviar-Mink Hanover), driven by Matt Kakaley and trained by Allan Johnson, in 1:56.
Mar 29, 2013 | Racing
March 27, 2013
Daggett, Jurgen Hanover, and Maximum Credit scored wins in the first leg of the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old colts and geldings on the trot on Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The races each carried a purse of $15,000.
Daggett (Chocolatier-Elena Victory), with Marcus Miller in the bike for John Butenschoen, parlayed a pocket trip into a victory in the first split, scoring in 1:58:2. In the second division, Jurgen Hanover (Credit Winner-Yassi Hanover) romped to win in 1:56:1, the fastest of the times in the first leg of the series. David Miller did the driving for trainer Donna Marshall. The final split was captured by Maximum Credit (Credit Winner-Marjorie Hall), as George Napolitano Jr. drove him to a frontrunning win for trainer Paul Kennedy in 1:58:2.
Sep 12, 2012 | Racing
September 7-13, 2012
Even with only three nights of racing at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in the past week, we still had more than enough candidates to fill out the Weekly Awards. Give credit to the impressive group of pacers and trotters we have on the grounds that have made not just this week at Pocono, but all of 2012, a destination for some of the finest racing in the country.
PACER OF THE WEEK: FOILED AGAIN
In Saturday night’s $50,000 Open pace, the seven horses in the field came into the race with earnings of around $12,000,000. Leading that pack of big earners was Foiled Again, an 8-year-old gelding who came into the race with $4.3 million in the bank. Even with that fact, and even considering he won a huge stakes at Mohawk in his last race, the pride of the Ron Burke barn was still the 2-1 third choice behind favorite We Will See and second choice Bettor Sweet, both superstars in their own right.
Leaving from the outside post in the field, driver Matt Kakaley decided to play it conservative with Folied Again, settling him toward the back of the pack as nasty fractions were set on the sloppy track. It wasn’t until the back stretch when horse and driver made their move, and they got a little racing truck when Rockincam stepped out in front of them to give them a bit of cover.
In the stretch, Kakaley had Folied Again out on the wide side with a clear path and only Bettor Sweet standing in his way. The two standouts battled through the lane, but when the dust cleared, Foiled Again was the one who came out in front, just like he had 63 times before in other career victories. His winning time of 1:49:1 was the fastest of the week despite it being achieved in the slop.
Other top pacers this week include: Mr Govianni Fra (Brandon Simpson, Ken Rucker), whose condition win on Friday night in 1:53:1 was his third straight, which is even more notable considering that winning streak immediately followed up 35 straight losses to start his career; Woodmere Ultimate (George Napolitano Jr., PJ Fraley), who rolled to his second straight $25,000 claiming win on Saturday night, this one coming in 1:51:2; and Feeling You (Tyler Buter, Amber Buter), a newcomer to Pocono who captured Tuesday night’s Open pace foe mares in a career-best 1:49:3, just missing a track record in the process.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: ROSE RUN HOOLIGAN
The winners of over $25,000 lifetime condition is the very best condition grouping at Pocono and often serves as the featured trot for the week, as it did on Saturday night. That means that any horse that conquers that group must not only be pretty talented but it also must be at the top of its game.
Rose Run Hooligan is a 9-year-old stallion who has been at the top of his game for an impressively long amount of time, hence his career earnings which are sneaking up toward the $1 million mark. On Saturday night, the veteran was overlooked at the window at 6-1 despite the fact that we was coming off a win in Canada.
Driver David Miller drove Rose Run Hooligan like he was a prohibitive favorite, however, and the stallion responded. He took the lead early on and was still there at the end to win by 1 ¾ lengths in a slop-defying time of 1:53:1, the fastest trotting time at Pocono this week. At an age when most horses are slowing down or packing it in, this star from the Rene Allard barn seems to be peaking.
Honorable mention on the trotting side this week goes to: Spit N Shine (Joe Pavia Jr., Chris Oakes), who romped to his third straight claiming win on Tuesday night, this one coming in 1:56:2; Grace N Charlie (Anthony Napolitano, James Siegelman), a mare who scored her second straight claiming victory on Tuesday night in 1:57:2; and Speculation (Tom Jackson, Robert Bath), who followed up a win at Harrah’s with an upset victory in a rugged condition group on Saturday night in 1:54:1.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: CAROLSTERN
With a swooping late move, this mare driven by David Ingraham upended a group of younger distaff pacers on Friday night at 35-1, paying off $72 on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: DAVID MILLER
Miller always makes an impact when he comes around, as he did on Saturday night, topping all drivers on the card with four victories on the evening.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: PJ FRALEY
Fraley has been a major player at Pocono all season long at Pocono, and this week was no different thanks to a training double on Saturday night.
That will do it for this week at Pocono, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
