Apr 7, 2015 | Racing
Trainer Ron Burke and driver Matt Kakaley swept both $15,000 divisions of the third leg of the Bobby Weiss Series for pacing males Saturday night, April 4th, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with Victory At Last now 3-for-3 in the series and Major Uptrend making his initial Weiss start a winning one.
After winning by a head in the first two legs, the Quik Star Mindale gelding Victory At Last had it relatively easy in the third, coming out of the pocket and gaining into a 55.4 final half to defeat Shadow Margeaux, the only other previous Weiss winner in his division, by ¾ of a length while taking a new mark of 1:52.1 for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
Major Uptrend, a big factor in the winter series at The Meadowlands, had made breaks in his last two outings, in the Sagamore Hill Series at Yonkers, and the switch to the more spacious oval proved a good tonic for the altered son of Somebeachsomewhere and Tricky Tooshie, who won over $1M on the racetrack. The Major marched to the lead past the ¼, then threw twin 27.4 splits on the end of his mile to complete the handy triumph in 1:51.3 for owner Howard Taylor, defeating four previous Weiss division winners, including second-place YS Lotus, making his sixth start in 18 days (racing in the Sagamore and Weiss three straight weeks).
One other interesting note: both winners sold at Harrisburg as yearlings – Major Uptrend for $177,000, Victory At Last for $7500.
Apr 6, 2015 | Racing
Walk The Walk, a son of former Horse of the Year Muscle Hill, emerged as the only horse competing in Bobby Weiss Series action to take a second straight win in the $15,000 Tuesday, March 31st, preliminaries, two for trotting males and two for pacing females, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Last week’s first round trotting male winners, Walk The Walk and Two Hip Dip, were matched in one division, and Walk The Walk maintained his perfect record in the series by winning Tuesday in 1:55.2 on a cold night and a sloppy racetrack. Last week Walk The Walk was well in front when he made a break nearing the wire, so in the interim trainer Chris Ryder qualified him with trotting hopples, and this week Walk The Walk was errorless, making an early move to command and then stepping home in 57 to defeat Raise The Curtain, with Two Hip Dip, the slight second choice as last week’s winners were both sent off at 11-10, third after a first-over trip. David Miller, who drove both winners last week, stayed with Walk The Walk, and the horse repaid that confidence of Miller in tallying for the ownership of Ruder, Sidney Korn, Robert Mondillo, and Max Wernick.
Bourbon Bay, third last week in snapping a six-race win skein, bounced back to winning ways, going a tick faster than the other trotting cut in winning by open lengths. The Sand Vic gelding is trained by Megan Wilson for driver/owner John Cummings Jr.
Thebeachnextdoor put paid to the hopes of a repeat Weiss win for Life Is A Beach and Crescent City, both nose victresses last week, by taking a personal mark of 1:53.4 in one leg of the female pacing competition. Jim Morrill Jr., behind hid fourth winner of the night, guided the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, like Muscle Hill a former Horse of the Year and who was nosed out in the first round, to a wire-to-wire triumph, with last week’s winners finishing 2-3 respectively. The Brewer Adams-trained mare is owned by Adams Racing LLC and Brian Clark.
Allthatjazz De Vie couldn’t be a repeat winner because Tuesday’s other division for females was her first start of the year, but she won her Weiss debut by personally coming home in 56.3 to win in 1:54.4 over Hollyrocker (the other distaff to be nosed in the first round). Andrew McCarthy sulkysat behind the sophomore daughter of American Ideal, now 5 for 7 lifetime, for the familiar pairing of trainer Ron Burke and the ownership combine of Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi.
Mar 30, 2015 | Racing
The Quik Pulse Mindale gelding Victory At Last became the first two-time winner in his section of the Bobby Weiss Series for late-developing pacing males, winning one of the three $15,000 second round Weiss events Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Last week Victory At Last led at every call and lasted over the late charge of a Rene Allard-trained horse, YS Lotus, by a head; this week the winner sat the pocket behind another Allard trainee, Vance Bayama, and rallied in the Pocono Pike to win in 1:54.2, last quarter 27.3, with the victory margin a head this week as well. Matt Kakaley again handled Victory At Last for trainer Ron Burke and the powerful combine of Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi.
Rene Allard, the leading trainer at Pocono last year, sent out the fastest winner in the two rounds of competition when YS Lotus, mentioned above, made a sweeping move around tired foes to the 3/4s and won by five lengths in a personal best 1:52 (on a 26 degree night). Rene’s brother Simon was in the sulky behind the altered son of If I Can Dream, an “iron horse” racing for the fourth time in 11 days, for owner Yves Sarrazin.
Both Victory At Last and YS Lotus were the crowd choices; such was not the case in the third Weiss event, as 13-1 shot Weapons Dealer angled wide in the stretch and caught Shadow Margeaux, a $77 win bomber last week, by a neck, taking a new speed badge of 1:54.1. Anthony Napolitano handled sulky duties behind the Western Ideal gelding for trainer Daniel Renaud and owner Robert Di Mozzi.
Mar 25, 2015 | Racing
Trotting males and pacing females were featured in first leg action of their divisions of the Bobby Weiss Series Tuesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with two $15,000 sections for each group contested.
In the first trotting cut Two Hip Dip set the pace, then blasted home in 1:55.4 – 56.2 – 27.1 for driver David Miller and trainer/owner Nick Salenetri. The son of Glidemaster was the slight favorite in a race where two horses were sent off at 4-5 – his co-“odds-on” rival Bourbon Bay was outfooted late for second by Raise The Curtain.
The other diamondgaited division also went to driver David Miller, again on the engine, this time with Walk The Walk. Walk The Walk trotted the trot about five lengths better than anyone else in the field until the shadow of the wire, where he ran the run, but was not in violation of the breaking rules. The son of Muscle Hill, owned by trainer Chris Ryder in partnership with Sidney Korn, Robert Mondillo, and Max Wernick, posted a new personal speed badge of 1:55.1 despite the bobble, with back timings of 56.3 – 28.
Miller and Ryder again teamed in a division of the female Weiss action, using “pocket rocket” tactics into a 28 kicker with the Rocknroll Hanover filly Crescent City to get a nose up in a new mark of 1:54 for Diamond Creek Racing. This event also featured an unusual betting pattern, with three horses at less than 2-1 – the winner was 7-5, place horse Hollyrocker was 9-5, and first-over Caviart Shelly (fourth) was 3-2.
The other distaff division also saw a nose separate the top two, as a daughter of Somebeachsomewhere, Life Is A Beach, maintained an early brush to command to the wire over The Beach Nextdoor in a personal best 1:53.1, with twin 28.1s the last half. Matt Kakaley had sulky duty for trainer Ron Burke and the omnipresent Burke Racing / Weaver Bruscemi partnership.
David Miller and Kakaley had three wins on the card; doubles were recorded by George Napolitano Jr. and, on his birthday, Mike Simons, with the latter win for “The Trot Man” the appropriately-gaited Magnum Kosmos. As opposed to opening night this past Saturday, where the average win mutuel was over $21, 7 of 13 chalks clicked this evening.
Nov 4, 2014 | Racing
October 25, 2014
Speed Again led every step of the way to win the featured Open pace on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The race carried the night’s top purse of $35,000.
Leaving from post position #6 in a field of nine as a 4-1 third choice, Speed Again, a 5-year-old gelding from the Run Burke barn who was fresh off an Open Handicap win at Harrah’s at Philadelphia, was sent to the front by driver Anthony Napolitano right from the start. P H Supercam, the 4-5 favorite who had won three Opens in a row at Yonkers, settled behind him in the pocket. In the stretch, Speed Again answered the charge of P H Supercam, holding him off to win by a neck in 1:49. Aslan finished third.
Speed Again, owned by Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, and RTC Stables, won for the 6th time in 23 races this year. It was his 21st lifetime win and pushed his career earnings to $764,896.
