May 12, 2013 | Racing
May 4-10, 2013
It was an extremely busy week at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, featuring one extra racing card thanks to our Kentucky Derby day doubleheader. With all of that thrilling action, there were plenty of fantastic performances to witness and a bevy of top choices for the Weekly Awards. Those were some tough choices to make, but here are the best of the best from this jam-packed week.
PACER OF THE WEEK: GOLDEN RECEIVER
Back before Pocono ascended to one of the top tracks in the nation, it was common for horses that did well here to struggle when they got to the bigger stages. That has all changed in recent years, and no horse exemplifies that transformation any better than Golden Receiver, who was once the best at MSPD but proceeded to be one of the best in the whole country.
Coming off a 2012 season which saw him earn $941,025, he picked up where he left off with six straight victories to start this year before a loss at Harrah’s on April 5. After a month off, he returned to racing at the scene of so many of his greatest triumphs in Saturday night’s $50,000 Van Rose Memorial pace. The fans remembered the 8-year-old gelding from the Mark Harder barn well, making him the 1-5 favorite in a star-studded field.
He didn’t disappoint. Driver George Napolitano Jr. sent him to the front end early, and Golden Receiver did the rest, winning by 1 ¾ lengths in 1:50 without even breaking a sweat. It was a kind of victory lap for the superstar, but, with the Breeders Crown scheduled for Pocono in October, he’ll likely be back to go for an even bigger crowning score at his former home.
Honorable mention on the pacing side includes: Lorrie Please (Eric Carlson, Michael Hall), a mare who won her second straight Preferred distaff pace on Sunday night, rallying for the victory in 1:51; Mustang Art (Andrew McCarthy, James McGuire), who burned it up on the front end in a condition pace for a win in 1:49:3, the fastest time posted at Pocono this week; and Blissful Dreamer (Jim Morrill Jr., Brewer Adams), who won her third straight race at a third different claiming price, this time out on Wednesday night over the $10,000 claiming mares in 1:52:3.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: CLASSIC MARTINE
Sunday night featured the last of the four $30,000 finals for the Bobby Weiss Series, the races which featured some of the best young talent on the grounds over the first month of the season. The last of the groups to take center stage was the assemblage of 3-year-old trotting fillies, and the final was distinguished by the fact that Classic Martine was a prohibitive favorite.
It didn’t take too much in the way of investigation to see why, considering that the filly from the Todd Schadel barn had won her last three starts in the previous legs of the series, beating at one time or another in that stretch every horse that she would face in Sunday’s final. Still, the 1-2 favorite could have had any number of things go wrong, like a break of stride or some bad racing luck, to derail her chances.
Driver Andy Miller took some of the variables out of play by sending Classic Martine to the front end. He then allowed the filly to dictate the pace and expend only as much energy as necessary. In the stretch, she glided home over horses giving all-out efforts to get to her, winning without exerting herself at all in 1:55:3, making this Weiss final look like a foregone conclusion.
Other top trotters include: As Ya’ll Like It (Tyler Buter, Amber Buter), who trotted away and hid for a claiming handicap victory on Saturday night in 1:55:1; Sand Wyndham (Joe Pavia Jr., Rene Allard), who made a late rally to win Tuesday night’s featured condition trot in 1:54; and Tui (Anthony Napolitano, Don Wiest), who rolled to an easy win in Wednesday night’s featured condition trot, scoring in a quick 1:53:2 despite sloppy conditions.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: TWIN B FLIRT
Saturday’s very first race of the morning on the special racing card woke the patrons up quickly, as driver Marcus Miller guided this condition pacer to a win at 32-1 for a $66 payout on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: MATT KAKALEY
Matt had one of his best weeks of the season to date, including a monster weekend with eight wins in two days and a five-bagger on Sunday night.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: PJ FRALEY
With three wins on Saturday night’s program and then two more on Tuesday night, Fraley continued what has been an extremely hot start to the Pocono meet.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Mar 29, 2013 | Racing
Opening week at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs is officially in the books, and it was a great four nights of racing. Although Mother Nature hasn’t yet cooperated with better racing temperatures, at least there were fast tracks all week long. That allowed for some sizzling racing regardless of the weather. With that in mind, let’s not waste any more time. We’re handing out 2013’s first edition of the Weekly Awards.
PACER OF THE WEEK: SILENT SWING
We’ve got a bunch of official records detailing the fastest times in the history of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs as separated by age and gender; they can be found in our racing program. We don’t keep official records on the best performances on Opening Night, but I’ve been watching the live races now for more than fifteen years, and I can guarantee that no one has ever been better on the first night of the season than Silent Swing was on Saturday night.
The 11-year-old gelding from the barn of Mark Ford had some help in his standout performance from Drumfire A, who gunned to the early lead and set blistering fractions. That allowed Slient Swing to stay tucked in the pocket and have energy left for the stretch drive.
At that point, driver George Napolitano Jr. gunned Silent Swing right past the defenseless Drumfire A and won going away in 1:49:4, an incredible time considering the frigid temperatures. I have a feeling that scorching mile is going to be a harbinger of the faast times to come in the upcoming season at Pocono.
Honorable mention on the pacing side goes to: Jerseylicious (Corey Callahan, Wayne Givens), whose romping victory in the first leg of the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Tuesday night followed four consecutive wins at Dover to start the season; Gallant Major (Mike Simons, Gail Wrubel), who followed up a win ay Yonkers on Saturday night with a victory over the $25,000 claimers in 1:54:2; and Betterthanlynx (George Napolitano Jr., Peter Pellegrino), who now has three straight wins after shipping in from Monticello and knocking off a field of claiming handicap pacers on Sunday night in 1:52:4.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: PHOTO KING
The featured condition trot of the week came on Saturday night and carried a purse of $21,000. There were some rugged trotters in that group, with all eight horses in the field having earned well over six figures in their careers.
Photo King, a six-year-old gelding from the Bill Mullin barn, got seasoning early this year facing tough trotters at The Meadowlands. He entered Saturday night’s race as the 5-2 second choice behind 3-2 favorite Spice it Up Lindy and had a tough #7 post position. Come race time though, he was up to all challenges.
The gelding, with Jim Morrill Jr. in the bike, fought hard through a contested stretch drive and came up with a gutsy victory in 1:55, matching the fastest trotting time of the week at Pocono. Now with three wins in eight starts this season, Photo King seems poised for a huge campaign at MSPD.
Other top trotters this week include: Sand Wyndham (Joe Pavia Jr., Rene Allard), who followed up a win at Saratoga with a condition win on Sunday night in 1:55:2; Keepin The Chips (Matt Kakaley, Brooke Vermett), a gelding whose win at Pocono on Sunday night in 1:56 came on the heels of win at Chester in his last start; and As Ya’ll Like It (Tyler Buter, Chris Oakes), who opened up racing on Wednesday night with a powerful winning performance in a claiming handicap in a career-best 1:55.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: SAND SUMMERFIELD
A pocket trip helped this pacer driven by Marcus Miller to the upset of an excellent condition pacing field on Saturday night at 24-1, paying out $50 for a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: TYLER BUTER
Not only did Tyler get off to a sizzling start to the 2013 meet at Pocono with a big first week, he also scored his milestone 2,000th lifetime driving win on Wednesday night aboard Zooming.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: AMBER BUTER
The first week was all about the Buters at Pocono. While Tyler has been a driving dynamo, Amber finds herself near the top of the trainers’ standings in the early going.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
Nov 2, 2012 | Racing
October 19-25, 2012
The competition at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs over the past week was a lot of fun to watch. The weather has been cooperating, providing warmer temperatures than usual for this time of the year even when the rains came. As a result, we had a lot of fast times on both the pacing and trotting side of the ledger, giving us a great group of candidates for the Weekly Awards. Check it out below to see who get the honors.
PACER OF THE WEEK: BITTERSWEET CHAMP
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen several horses stepping up in class in the condition ranks. In general, such a move up the ladder is a bit of a bumpy ride, considering that the competition is much stiffer in the higher classes. As a result, a horse that does move up has to raise its game to a new level to have any chance of picking up a victory.
Bittersweet Champ, a four-year-old gelding from the barn of Welsh trainer Gareth Dowse, was coming off a career-best start in a victory on October 12 in 1:50:3. Buoyed by that big effort, he stepped up into a condition for non-winners of $15,500 in the last five starts on Saturday night, a class against which he had previously come up short in two previous races.
Saturday night was a different story. Driver George Napolitano Jr. found the gelding some live cover on the back stretch. At the top of the lane, Bittersweet Champ blew right by that cover and scored his second straight win. As mentioned before, he needed to raise his game and he did just that, re-setting his career best with a sizzling time of 1:49:4, which matched the fastest pacing time of the week.
Other top pacers this week include: Sonic Raider (George Napolitano Jr., Joseph Karrat), who moved up in class on Saturday night but still captured his third straight claiming win and matched a career-best in the process with a mile of 1:52:2; Four Starzzz King (George Napolitano Jr., Peter Pellegrino), an 11-year-old pacer who picked up his second straight win over the $10,000 claimers on Saturday night in 1:52:1; and Special Dark (Matt Kakaley, Kent Sherman), a mare who picked up her second straight win over the $5,000 claimers on Friday night in 1:54:3.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: PHOTO KING
Sometimes it takes some kind of change for a horse to tap into his true potential. In the case of Photo King, he’s had two pretty significant changes in the past month. He was claimed on September 28 and joined the barn of trainer Bill Mullin, and Mullin brought the 5-year-old gelding to Pocono from Saratoga Harness after the claim.
With a change of scenery and a change of barns, Photo King quickly responded with a claiming handicap win on October 12. That was all his handlers needed to see to step him up to a condition for non-winners of $25,000 in the last five races, one of the toughest groupings on the grounds. To make things more difficult, he had to deal with the #9 post.
Driver George Napolitano Jr. sent Photo King to the front early to get positioning, then allowed him to sit the pocket when the mare Tui went by him early. In the stretch, the five-year-old gelding made a big second move and won a thriller, prevailing in 1:53:2. Not only was that a career-best, it was also the fastest trotting time at Pocono for the week.
Honorable mention on the trotting side goes to: Sand Wyndham (Joe Pavia Jr., Rene Allard), who stepped up in class to win his second straight condition trot on Saturday night in 1:53:3; Without a Clue (Joe Pavia Jr., Anette Lorentzon), who now has three consecutive wins to start his career following a romping condition victory on Wednesday night in 1:55:3; and Around And Over (Anthony Napolitano, James McGuire), who picked up his second straight gate-to-wire win in condition action on Tuesday night, this one coming in 1:57:2.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: IDEAL DANNY
Ideal Danny had been slumping for a bit, which is why he got away at 37-1 on Friday night in a condition pace, but he pulled off the upset with Eric Carlson in the bike for a $76.80 payout on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: JOE PAVIA JR.
Pavia has been picking up steam as the season has rolled on, and this week was indicative of that trend, as he picked up driving doubles on Saturday and Tuesday.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: PETER PELLEGRINO
It’s been a good season at Pocono for the Pellegrino barn, and this week he scored training victories with Four Starzzz King on Saturday and Caviart Spencer on Tuesday.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].
