April 27-May 3, 2019
We are really starting to enter the heart of the harness racing stakes season at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
In the past week, the last two finals of the Bobby Weiss series took place, and those two winners highlight this edition of the Weekly Awards. Not only will Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action be heating up in the next few weeks, but the Van Rose Memorial Pace on Saturday night will kick off the Great Northeast Open series. So much going on, but first let's take a look back at those Weiss finals.
PACER OF THE WEEK: TURBO HILL
The past few weeks of the Bobby Weiss series in the three and four-year-old colts, stallions and geldings pacing division set up an interesting rivalry between Turbo Hill and Sports Legend. Turbo Hill won a showdown between the two on April 13, and looked like the class of the division at that point. But then Sports Legend came back the following week and not only beat Turbo Hill, but did so handily by 7 ½ lengths.
While there were others in the field with excellent credentials, Saturday night's final figured to come down to the two rivals. Turbo Hill, a four-year-old stallion, left from post position #5 in the nine-horse field as the 3-5 favorite, while Sports Legend was right next to him in post #6 as an 8-5 second choice. In the previous meetings, the horse who grabbed the lead was the one who came out on top, so it boded well for Turbo Hill that he jumped out to the engine in this one.
It also boded well when George Napolitano Jr., taking over as driver of Turbo Hill from trainer Hunter Oakes, was able to get away with a soft second panel of :29:1. While Sports Legend stayed close in the pocket, he wasn't able to get past in the all-out duel in the stretch. The well-rated Turbo Hill was able to finish strong for the victory in a career-best 1:51, holding off Sports Legend by three parts of a length to avenge what was only the second loss of his career.
Other top pacers this week include: Hitman Hill (Hunter Oakes, Chris Oakes), who scored a condition victory on Saturday night in 1:50:1, matching the mark that he set a few weeks back as the fastest pacing time posted so far this meet at Pocono; Scott Rocks (George Napolitano Jr., Hunter Oakes), who scored his second straight condition victory by moving up in class on Saturday night to win in 1:50:4; and Eclipse Me N (Simon Allard, Rene Allard), who won the Mares feature on Tuesday for the second straight week, this time getting it done in 1:50:3.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: DOVER DONY
The finals of a racing series can often take on a different aspect than all the preliminary legs. In the Weiss series for three and four-year-old colts, stallions and geldings trotters, most of the preliminary legs contained short fields. In that atmosphere, My Lindy Winner seemed unbeatable, winning three straight, mostly with authority. Only in the final leg was he pushed to the hilt by Dover Dony, who nearly went gate-to-wire, only to lose to My Lindy Winner by a half-length.
On Monday night in the final, there was a full field of nine. My Lindy Winner left from post position #7 in a field of nine. As a horse without great speed in the opening quarter, he laid back and settled fifth early on. But Dover Dony, a four-year-old stallion trained by Jordan Derue, came out flying from post #6 and grabbed the lead from Chapter And Ruth at the eighth-mile marker. Driver Simon Allard than rated the pace well and allowed Dover Dony to rest in the front stretch before kicking it up several notches on the back stretch and opening up the lead.
My Lindy Winner, having to make up more ground than usual, was still well behind on the back stretch, finally kicking into gear with a three-wide move on the final turn. But by that time the margin was too wide and Dover Dony was too game. He powered home a length in front of Chapter And Ruth, with My Lindy Winner another quarter-length back in the third. Dover Dony blazed to a career-best mile of 1:54 as a 6-5 second choice, while Allard completed an amazing run as driver of there of this year's four Weiss series champions.
Honorable mention on the trotting side goes to: Tag Up And Go (Marcus Miller, Rob Harmon), who followed up a win at Chester with a victory in Sunday night's featured condition trot in 1:56:4 in the slop; Very Very Fast (Simon Allard, Bob Bresnahan Jr.), who stepped up in condition to score his second straight win on Sunday night, getting it done in the slop in 1:58:2; and Such An Angel (George Napolitano Jr., Hunter Oakes, who powered to a condition victory on Tuesday in 1:53:0, the fastest trotting time of the week at Pocono.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: NEW IDENTITY
After spending the entirety of 2018 without a victory, this condition trotter won his first start this year with Anthony Napolitano in the bike at 27-1, paying off $56.40 on a $2-win ticket.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: MATT KAKALEY
Whenever he makes an appearance at Pocono, you can expect Kakaley to do some damage, as he proved with a combined seven wins on Sunday and Monday night.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: RAY SCHNITTKER
Schnittker sent out a trip of three-year-old pacing colts on Sunday and Monday night, all of them making their first start of the year, and every one of the three came back a winner.
That will do it for this week at Pocono, but we'll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at jbeviglia@mohegansunpocono.com.
by Jim Beviglia