Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Week in Review

Oct 22, 2014 | Racing

October 3-9, 2014
In the three nights of racing that took place at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs the past week, we witnessed some outstanding performances by experienced veterans. Yet the two victories that stood out among such a distinguished crowd were scored by a pair of three-year-old fillies. We’ll take a look at each of those precocious performers as well as the best of the rest in this edition of the Weekly Awards.
PACER OF THE WEEK: CLASSIC CARPET
This filly was unraced as a 2-year-old, which meant she started her racing career this year. She began that career on some small tracks in Canada and started to really find her stride with a romping win on the 5/8-mile oval at Rideau Carlton in August. That’s when she shipped into the U.S. and joined the barn of trainer Ron Burke. She immediately paid dividends with a comfortable win at Harrah’s at Philadelphia by another big margin.
In her first appearance at Pocono on September 30, Classic Carpet faced off against a non-winners of four condition group and dominated as an odds-on favorite in 1:51, a new career-mark. With a three-race winning streak in tow, it was no surprise that she went off against that same condition group on Tuesday night as a 4-5 favorite despite being up against a solid field of young distaff pacers.
With Matt Kakaley doing the driving, Classic Carpet once again made her move to the lead on the front stretch at about the 3/8-mile marker of the race. From that point, nobody posed even a modest threat to her dominance in the race. She coasted to the line 3 ¾ lengths in front of her closest foe in a sharp 1:51:4. She may have started a bit later than most, but this filly is making up for lost time in a big way.
Other top pacers this week include: Wake Up Peter (Tyler Buter, Larry Remmen), who powered to a condition win on Saturday night in 1:50, the fastest time of the week at MSPD; Artache Hanover (Anthony Napolitano, James Eaton), who rallied from the pocket on Saturday night for his second straight condition win, this one coming in 1:52:1; and Cameron Lucky (Jim Morrill Jr., Darren Taneyhill), a mare who picked up her second straight claiming handicap win on Wednesday night, this one in 1:52:1.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: STRUCK BY LINDY
Unlike Classic Carpet, Struck By Lindy did race as a 2-year-old and she turned in a standout season, churning out four wins in just 12 starts and earning over $300,000 in purse. Her prospects for a great sophomore year seemed excellent, but even though she had several in-the-money finishes against good competition, she entered a condition trot on September 27 winless in eleven 2014 races.
On that night, she followed outside cover and rallied for the victory to break the losing streak in a time of 1:54:1. Last Saturday night, the filly from the Nifty Norman barn once again tackled a tough condition group of non-winners of $14,000 in the last five starts. Struck By Lindy doesn’t like to fire early, so the inside post she had might have worked against her as she was shuffled back in the pack. Driver Andrew McCarthy had no choice but to send her first-over on the back stretch to try to get the lead.
Despite having to do all the work herself, the filly still glided on by the leaders. In the stretch, Struck by Lindy powered home to hold off closing Fools Revenue by 1 ½ lengths for the victory in 1:55. That makes two straight and provides further evidence that this talented trotter is regaining the form that made her such a big winner as a 2-year-old.
Honorable mention on the trotting side goes to: Black Caviar (Simon Allard, Clifton Green), a filly who rallied for her second straight condition win on Tuesday night, this one in 1:57:1; Not Afraid (Andrew McCarthy, Jimmy Takter), who scored a win in the week’s featured Preferred trot on Saturday night in 1:52:3, easily the fastest trotting time of the week at Pocono; and Home Front (Ake Svanstedt driver and trainer), who followed up his maiden win last week with a condition victory on Wednesday night in 1:57:3.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: BLACK CAVIAR
As noted in the honorable mention above, this filly’s win with Simon Allard in the bike on Tuesday was her second straight, yet she still got away at 28-1 for a $58 payout on a $2 win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: ANDREW MCCARTHY
McCarthy has been on quite a roll in the second half of the season at Pocono, with four wins on Saturday and three more on Tuesday exemplifying his hot streak.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: LARRY REMMEN
Remmen had just two starters in on Saturday night but he got his money’s worth from them as Wake Up Peter and Word Power each scored impressive condition victories.
That will do it for this week, but we’ll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

2 Year Old Filly Cooler Schooner Trots to New World Record

Aug 26, 2013 | Racing

August 21, 2013
It was clear sailing for the freshman filly trotter Cooler Schooner in the 4th and final division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. With John Campbell at the helm, the daughter of Broadway Hall-Pine Schooner breezed through panels of :26.4, :54.4 and 1:23.2 before stopping the teletimer in an eye-popping 1:51.3 to win by 1 ½ lengths. Shake It Cerry finished a fast closing second after going a long first-over trip in the $66,446 event. The new world record holder – for any size track –  is trained by Jim Campbell for Fashion Farms of New Hope, Pa.
The first division of the night was captured by Lifetime Pursuit (Yannick Gingras) in 1:55.4 for trainer Jimmy Takter. The Cantab Hall filly is owned by Brittany Farms, Versailles, Kentucky.  Struck By Lindy followed first over cover up the backside and took the lead for good at the three-quarter pole to take the second division, worth $66,846, drawing off by 3 ½ lengths in 1:55.4 for driver David Miller. The Explosive Matter daughter is owned by Melvin Hartman, R A W Equine Inc. and Adam Victor & Son Stable LLC and trained by Richard Norman. In the third division, A Perfect Gem, piloted by Marcus Miller led from start to finish to record her third win-a-row for trainer Erv Miller. Paymaq Racing, Louis Willinger and Daniel Plouffe are the owners of the Yankee Glide filly, who now has seasonal earnings of $113,907.

Summer Indian sets World Record Friday at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs

Jul 8, 2013 | Racing

July 5, 2013
Summer Indian undoubtedly enjoyed the warm summer temperature on Friday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The 4-year-old gelding, from the Ron Burke barn and driven by Matt Kakaley, broke a world trotting record that was already established on the red dirt speedway in the Pocono Mountains.  Leaving from post five, Summer Indian took control just past a :27.1 first quarter and sped through quarter times of :54.3, 1:22 and stopped the teletimer in 1:51.1. The previous 1:52 world mark was held by Macho Lindy set in 2008.
 Eight divisions of two-year-old filly trotter Pennsylvania All Stars races were also on the card. The races each carried a purse of $30,000. 
The Friday night started out with the following winners of the Pennsylvania All Stars races: Struck By Lindy (Explosive Matter-Lindy Of My Dreams), driven by Ron Pierce and trained by Nifty Norman, in 1:56.4; Juniata Hanover (Cantab Hall-Justgotafeeling), driven by Matt Kakaley and trained by Ron Burke, in 1:58:3; and Designed To Be (Donato Hanover-Sheer Soul), driven by Tyler Buter and trained by Julie Miller, in 1:57.3. It was then clinic time, as in putting on a clinic, as the duo of driver Ron Pierce and trainer Jimmy Takter won with  Honor thy Daughter (Donato Hanover-Honorable Daughter) in 1:57; Shake It Cerry (Donato Hanover-Solveig) in 1:54.4. That mark came close to equaling the track mark of 1:54.3; and Lifetime Pursuit (Cantab Hall-Queen Of Grace) in 1:57.1.
  The final two divisions of the evening for the freshman filly trotters went to: Vanity Matters (Explosive Matter-Vanity Plates), driven by Andrew McCarthy and trained by Jonas Czernyson, in 1:57.2; and Global Magic (Broadway Hall-Global Glamour), driven by Andrew McCarthy and trained by Peter Foley, in 1:56.2.