Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Week in Review

Apr 20, 2013 | Racing

April 13-19, 2013
The first few weeks at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs have featured some exciting young horses competing in the Bobby Weiss Series. The preliminary legs are just about over, and next week in this space we’ll be taking a look at who came out triumphant in the big-money finals. In the meantime, another outstanding week of racing has produced some excellent candidates for the Weekly Awards.
PACER OF THE WEEK: GO BOTH WAYS
Last Saturday night’s racing was typically sharp at Pocono, with race after race featuring fast times by the winners. The fastest of all those winning times came from Go Both Ways, who put up a mile of 1:50:1. Not only was that the fastest of the night and the best in the 9-year-old gelding’s excellent career, but it was also the fastest posted at Pocono all week long.
The interesting thing about the mile by Go Both Ways is that it came in a $20,000 claiming event. While that is a solid grouping with many excellent competitors, there are higher claiming classes at Pocono, not to mention the condition races which are stocked with horses that go blistering times each and every week.
But nobody told Go Both Ways, who hails from the barn of Michael Hall, that he was supposed to be on a middling level. With Jim Morrill Jr. in the bike, he took the early lead, set scorching fractions, and paced away and hid from the field. Considering that the Dover shipper came in winless, it’s safe to say that he loved the Pocono oval and, with a time like that, he can hang with any class of pacers.
Honorable mention on the pacing side goes to: Star Keeper (Jim Morrill Jr., Doug Berkeley), a mare who won her third straight claiming handicap on Wednesday night in 1:52:4; Naughtytiltheend (Marcus Miller, Erv Miller), who moved up in class to score her second straight condition win on Wednesday night in 1:52; and Passion Starlet (George Napolitano Jr., Peter Pellegrino), who won her second straight $5,000 claimer at Pocono on Wednesday night in a career-best 1:54:2 and now has five victories in her last six races.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: MODERN FAMILY
You’ll often hear handicappers using the term “needs a start.” What they mean is that the horse needs one race to get itself acclimated to racing before it can be expected to perform at a top level. This term is generally used to describe a horse coming off a layoff, but it can also refer to a horse who is new to its surroundings.
Modern Family was a powerhouse early in the season, picking up wins at Dover, Harrah’s, and the Meadowlands. In his first start at Pocono on April 6, he rallied late but came up short by two lengths in a Preferred Handicap trot behind Tall Cotton. On Saturday night in the same class, trainer/driver Daryl Bier had a chance for revenge in the same class against Tall Cotton and a stellar field.
Bier had to be patient as Modern Family got shuffled back on the inside as the lead changed hands a few times. The 4-year-old stallion managed to slip to the outside in the stretch and he staged a furious rally to get up to win by a nose in 1:52:2. Not only was it his career-best, it was also the fastest trotting time at Pocono this season. He may have needed a start at Pocono, but with his confidence building after this great win, he just might not stop.
Other top trotters this week include: Permanent Joy (Brandon Simpson, Robert Krivelin), who used a thrilling stretch move to come from behind for a win in Tuesday night’s featured trot in 1:55:3, a new career mark; Bloomfieldcantifly (Jim Morrill Jr., Bill Mullin), who continued her excellent early part of the meet with a condition win on Tuesday in a career-best 1:55:1; and Definitely Mamie (Jim Morrill Jr., Brewer Adams), who overcame the far outside post for a gutsy condition win in the Wednesday night  feature in 1:53:2, which matched the mare’s career-best time.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: MIDAS BLUE CHIP
In a claiming handicap pace on Saturday night, Midas Blue Chip got away at 36-1, and driver Tyler Buter rallied the gelding four-wide in the stretch for the win and a $74.60 payout on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: DARYL BIER
Bier had just two drives on Saturday night, but Modern Family won in the week’s fastest trotting time, and St Lads Zoom Zoom scored in the second-fastest pacing time. Bier trains both horses as well.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: MICHAEL HALL
It’s been an excellent start to the season for Hall, a relative newcomer to Pocono. This week he picked up three wins including a training double on Sunday night.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

Apr 19, 2012 | Racing

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Week In Review
Opening Night Recap – April 3, 2012
It didn’t take long for the 2012 season at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs to kick into gear. In front of a solid crowd on Tuesday night, a field of seven pacers went to the gate in Race 1 for the first of about 1,900 races that Pocono will host from now to November.
What’s funny about it is that all of us who love the sport of harness racing spend lots of time looking forward to a new season, but it takes just a matter of moments for us to really get engrossed in it all over again. In this case, it took about 53:4 seconds, which is how long it took Midas Blue Chip to cover a half-mile of ground.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the sport, that is seriously fast, the kind of pace you would expect from a stakes race in the middle of summer. Instead, it came in the first division of five on the night for the Bobby Weiss series, an ongoing racing event scheduled in the month of April at Pocono to honor the longtime track superintendent who retired in the offseason.
So, while this was a good field of young pacers, it was not the kind of field, or the kind of night for that matter (somewhat chilly) to produce such fast fractions. So the logical conclusion that most racing fans would come up with is that the horse setting that pace, Midas Blue Chip, was bound to fade.
Only he didn’t. With Jim Morrill doing the driving, the gelding from the barn of Brian Seidel sustained all the way to the finish line for a thrilling victory in 1:52. And so, another racing season was off and rolling in impressive fashion.
As fast as that race was, however, things got even faster as the night progressed. Later on in the Weiss series, Social Network updated his status with a victory in 1:51:4. Following that up, Three Artist got a win a tick faster in 1;51:3, the night’s fastest time. It was a flying start to a series that should be fun to watch as the month rolls on.
It was also nice to see our old friends in the driving and training colony already in fine form as well. Matt Kakaley, the leading driver in victories at Pocono in 2011, got off to a quiet start, going winless in the first nine races. He more than made up for that though, winning four of the last five races on the program. Morrill added three wins while David Miller picked up a double. Familiar faces George Napolitano Jr., Anthony Napolitano, Mike Simons, Tony Schadel, and Ray Schnittker all notched driving wins as well. On the training side, Ron Burke and James McGuire each had doubles on Opening Night.
For the bettors, there were excellent opportunities to be had. Even though favorites came up with a solid winning percentage on the night, taking five of the fourteen races, a few mid-price horses spiced up the payouts. In the 6th, Chase The Sun snuck through the passing lane for a win at 6-1. In the next race, Girls Wiilb Girls put together a gutty effort to win on the front end at 7-1. Later on in the 9th, Showmeyourstuff was first-over for a good part of the mile but still scored at 6-1.
The exotic wagers were pretty lucrative as well, as Pocono inaugurated a 10-cent Superfecta wager in a few races. In one of those races, the 7-8-3-4 combination paid off a stunning $38,868.80. It’s not Powerball money, I admit, but it’s not bad for a $2 ticket.
By the time veteran Caerleon Hanover took the win in the 14th and final race, fans had witnessed several thrilling finishes and many outstanding performances. Not bad at all for an Opening Night, setting the tone for what should be another memorable season here at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.
Remember that we race on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights in the early part of the season, with post time at 6:30 PM ET. Make sure to come out and join us.
Next week, we’ll have had a full schedule of racing under our belts by that time, which means we’ll had out the first edition of the Weekly Awards. Until then, we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].