Apr 21, 2015 | Racing
JL Cruze was once again on “cruze”-control Tuesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, winning his $15,000 division of the fourth and preliminary leg of the Bobby Weiss Series for male trotters in 1:52.4 on Tuesday, April 14th.
JL and “JC” – Hall of Fame driver John Campbell – moved rapidly from fourth nearing the quarter to take over the lead from main challenger Opulent Yankee under the wire the first time, and the triumphant Crazed gelding was not threatened from there, sprinting home in 55.4 – 27.2 to keep the game Opulent Yankee 1¼ lengths at bay at the finish.
JL Cruze, a winner of over $140,000 already this season, is now perfect in two Weiss starts for trainer Eric Ell and owners Ken Wood, Bill Dittmar Jr., and Steve Iaquinta, and already has 10 wins in but 12 seasonal starts. With no show wagering, JL Cruze attracted $8329 in a $9658 place pool, but the real value may have been the JL Cruze-Opulent Yankee exacta, which was a big overlay at $3.20.
In the other Weiss section for this class, the Holiday Road colt Holiday My Way not only recorded his first Weiss score, but he also broke his maiden, and in fine fashion with a 1:56.2 personal mark. Trained by Shawn Simons and driven by his dad, “The Trot Man” Mike Simons, Holiday My Way made an early move to the lead and went on to win for Rick and Regina Beinhauer and the T L P Stable.
Tuesday’s Pocono card also featured the last prelim round for pacing females (both of these $30,000 Championships will be next Tuesday). The first section saw The Beach Nextdoor win her third straight in Weiss competition, with the Somebeachsomewhere mare shading 27.3 in the final panel to equal her lifetime mark of 1:53 as a “pocket rocket.” Jim Morrill Jr. was again in the sulky for trainer Brewer Adams and owners Adams Racing LLC and Brian Clark.
Like The Beach Nextdoor, Donttellruss used rallying tactics from the two-hole in the other cut, gaining into the 27.3 kicker to win in 1:53.3 over her stablemate in the Ron Burke barn, Allthatjazz De Vie, marking the second straight week that that pair has finished 1-2. The victorious mare by Panspacificflight was driven by Andrew McCarthy for the Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Lawrence Kerr, and Frank Baldachino.
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).
