Sep 24, 2012 | Racing
September 22, 2012
Trotter Arch Madness and pacer Golden Receiver won their respective Opens in the featured races on a sloppy Saturday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. Both the Open trot and the Open handicap pace carried a purse of $50,000.
Arch Madness (Balanced Image-Armbro-Archer), an 8-year-old gelding owned by Marc Goldberg and Willow Pond LLC, was sent to the front by trainer and driver Trond Smedshammer and got away with easy fractions on his way to the Open trot win. Anders Bluestone made a brief charge at the 3-5 favorite in the stretch, but Arch Madness, who pushed his career earnings up to $3,641,585 with the win, put him away by three-quarters of a length in 1:53:2 in the slop. Tober finished 3rd.
In the Open Handicap pace, Golden Receiver (Village Jove-Royal Gold), the pride of the Mark Harder barn who is owned by Taylor, Simmonds, Springer, and Stable 45, made the lead a few steps into the race despite the outside post and was till there at the end, holding off fast-closing Bettor Sweet to win by a half-length. The 7-year-old gelding, driven to victory by George Napolitano Jr., won for the 13th time in 21 starts this season and paced the mile in 1:50:1. Silent Swing finished 3rd.
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].
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).
Aug 31, 2012 | Racing
August 29, 2012
Donuto Hanover, John’s Polyview and Sir Richard Z Tam all secured themselves a spot in next Friday’s $200,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship for two-year-old pacing colts with impressive victories in Wednesday’s $345,974 final divisional SS preliminary at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Donuto Hanover, on the outside looking in for a finals spot before Wednesday, punched his Championship ticket with a 1:51.3 victory in his cut, a clocking which knocked a fifth of a second off the PcD track record for baby geldings formerly held by Arctic Warrior. Donuto, an alerted son of Dragon Again trained by Kelly O’Donnell for owner Richard Delarm, sat fifth at the quarter pole, but when David Miller gave him the word he rushed to the lead and paced his back ¾ in 1:24 flat, again showing the speed which had made him the sport’s fastest baby this year on an “f” track when he won in 1:50.4 on Super Stakes Sunday at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
The McArdle colt Johns Polyview moved early to command for doubling driver Miller, then withstood a determined charge late from Lex Vegas to triumph in 1:52.4-55.1-27.2 in his division. The season’s leader on a 5/8 for his section by means of an earlier 1:51.1 triumph, Johns Polyview is trained by Donna Marshall for Mortburg Trust 10-27-98.
Sir Richard Z Tam finished on even terms with Johns Polyview in the preliminary pointstandings by rallying into a 26.4 last quarter for trainer/driver Pat Lachance to catch pacesetting Good Day Mate in 1:54.2. Pat Lachance also co-owns the Somebeachsomewhere colt with M & M Harness Racing LLC and Ira Rosenblum.
The Pocono card also includes five $20,000 divisions of the final prelim for the two-year-old trotting fillies’ Stallion Series, with the baby misses looking for spots in the September 6 final at Harrah’s Philadelphia. Starting with the fastest winner, these diamondgaited baby fillies visited Victory Lane:
–Tonato Of Love, 1:57.3 (sire Donato Hanover, trainer Nifty Norman, driver Brian Sears, owners Deo Volente Farms LLC and T L P Stable);
–Changed It All, 1:58 (Yankee Glide, Mike Hall, a Sears driving double, Claim To Fame LLC and Janet Ho);
–Electra De Vie, 1:59.1 (Broadway Hall, and the family affair of driver Tony Schadel, trainer Linda Schadel, and owners Bruce and Tanya Schadel);
–Global Beauty, 2:00 (a Broadway Hall double, a stakes triple for driver Miller, Pete Foley, James McLaughlin and Lynne Foley; she was also the leading preliminary pointwinner);
—Homepage, 2:00.3 (Tom Ridge, Eric Carlson, Syl King Jr. as trainer and lessee).
