Bigtown Hero scores Saturday night feature

Aug 31, 2015 | Racing

Bigtown Hero, who already has two appearances on the sport’s all-time list of “horse who have hit the 3/4s in 1:20 or better,” missed by a tick becoming the only horse ever with three such appearances, winning the $24,000 featured pace at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono Saturday night, August 29th.
Bigtown Hero, an altered son of American Ideal, certainly didn’t have it easy, either — he was outside with cover until favored Bandolito cleared Bushwacker past a 26 opener, then rolled up raw to grab the top early on the second turn, en route to hitting the half in 53.1.
Driver Simon Allard, sulkysitting for trainer/brother/Pocono leader Rene, opened up lengths on Bandolito down the backstretch, with Bushwacker taking other crack outside, but both were well-behind when the timer tripped at 1:20.1 with a quarter to ago. Bandolito ate fractionally into the winner’s lead late, but was still shy of him by 3/4 of a length at the finish, with Quick Jolt coming from the clouds for third, a half length behind Bandolito and a length ahead of Bushwacker.
Allard Racing Inc. and Yves Sarrazin own the speed merchant, who hit the 3/4 in 1:19.4 last September 20 here en route to taking his mark of 1:47.3, and then on November 8 posted the fastest half (52.2) and 3/4s (1:19.1) in 5/8-mile track history before tiring in a race where Mach It So beat State Treasurer in 1:48. Both of these miles were also at Pocono.
Also at Pocono Saturday were a pair of $24,000 trots. Wind Of The North, an altered son of Cantab Hall who equaled a division world record of 1:51 here last year, needed only 1:53.3 Saturday to report home first for trainer Daryl Bier, co-owner with Joann Dombeck; in the other division the Andover Hall filly Sistas, 3-for-3 in Stallion Series competition, handled a big class rise, a predominantly male field, and a predominantly older field in 1:55 for driver George Napolitano Jr., trainer Chris Oakes, and owners Albert and Michelle Crawford. (Napolitano, who had 100 wins in July, won three times here Saturday to put him at 98 for August, with sessions at both Philly and Pocono tomorrow possibly letting him achieve a rare “consecutive double century” of winners; the win with Sistas was also his 500th of 2015).

History made in Van Rose Memorial Pace

May 8, 2012 | Racing

WILKES-BARRE PA — Special T Rocks shrugged off a tough trip to win the $50,000 Van Rose Memorial Invitational Pace at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Saturday night, May 5th, in the process equaling the world record of 1:48.3 for four-year-old altered pacers on a five-eighth mile track. 
The son of Rocknroll Hanover was driven gamely by his trainer Daryl Bier, also co-owner with Forest Bartlett and Joann Dombeck — yanking back into a 3-hole early, then snapping back out with cover after Dial Or Nodial, who was the force behind the opening splits of 26.3 and 53.3, wagered war with uncovered Fred And Ginder through and past the 1:21 three-quarters. Despite the hard usage, Bier still had a ton of horse, and confidently tipped his horse 3-deep late on the turn. The rocket-fast four-year-old took it from there, filling his hopples to the wire to break the Pocono division track mark (1:49.2, Tivoli Hanover, 2008) while equaling Maltese Artist’s world standard for this size of oval (Dover, 2005). The all-age mark for the 5/8s is 1:48, co-set by Artistic Fella, Mister Big, and We Will See, the last-named doing it at Pocono last year. 
Dancin Yankee, kept off the scorching pace, found room in the lane and was up for 2nd at long odds, with Dial Or Nodial, a Breeders Crown competitor last year, hanging tough for the show dough. 
Special T Rocks raised his seasonal record to an enviable 16-9-3-1, with a bankroll already this year of $182,250, and a lifetime sum of $259,964.  
The race honored Clarence Van Rose, a longtime writer for the local Times-Leader newspaper who passed away last year, with Pocono management thoughtfully staging the event for the native of Kentucky on a day a certain special horse race is held in the Bluegrass State. Van saw the Pocono tide rise and fall over the years, and he himself would probably be the first to remark that “his” mile was probably about 15 seconds faster than the average of all the races he witnessed at Pocono over the years.