WILKES-BARRE PA — George Napolitano Jr., the leading harness racing driver at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono and the pilot of favored Theartofconfusion A in that track's $20,000 pacing feature Saturday, got away from the gate with a very simple, non-confusing plan: keep going until getting the top, and then improve position from there.
And George Nap followed the plan to perfection, guiding the altered son of Riverboat King to the front going under the wire the first time, and then widening his lead to four lengths the next time they passed that point, at the finish of his 1:49.3 victory, a time which lowered his lifetime best by a fifth. The winner of $263,088, owned by Gilbert Garcia-Herrera in partnership with Barbara and Donald Amestime, is perfect in Pennsylvania since entering Garcia-Herrera's care four starts back, following up on a Philly win with this Pocono triumph.
The oldest track record on the Pocono books, the 1:14.3 clocking by Lieut Harkie for 5/8 of a mile, posted in 1979, seems almost sure to fall Sunday night as the mountain oval cards a rare race at the oncearound distance. The world record of 1:08.1 would be ambitious, but does not seem impossible.
PHHA