The kids are getting out of school, the pools are opening up, and the weather is getting steamy which means we are entering the thick of the summer season, the point at which the harness racing action at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono reaches dizzying heights.
Rest assured that the month of May went out with a bang at Pocono, with a bevy of excellent performers of both the equine and human variety vying for this edition of the Weekly Awards.
PACER OF THE WEEK: FIFTYSHADESDARKER
This 5-year-old gelding with a name that references a certain steamy book-turned-movie spent much of the spring at Northfield raceway in Ohio, reaching as high as Open II company in his stint there.
He arrived at Harrah's at Philadelphia on May 7 and, after flashing early speed, faded to fifth in a $15,000 claiming event.
Fiftyshadesdarker was claimed out of that race and joined the barn of trainer Chris Oakes.
The gelding's fortunes began to change when he came to Pocono to face the non-winners of $7,000 condition group on May 19 in his first start for the Oakes barn.
Driver George Napolitano Jr. found a nice cozy spot for him in the pocket, and Fiftyshadesdarker rallied late for the win in 1:52:4.
On Saturday night he faced down the same condition group, this time from the #5 post and with the added pressure of being made the 3-2 betting favorite.
But once again Napolitano was able to secure a pocket trip that allowed Fiftyshadesdarker to save both ground and energy. Come the home stretch, he had plenty left in the tank to blow by the pacesetter and he ended up pacing away to win by two lengths in 1:52:1.
With two consecutive wins, Fiftyshadesdarker is probably moving up in class, but if he can keep finding that pocket, he might just be able to move up in style.
Other top pacers this week include: Jebswesternshake (Anthony Napolitano, Kevin Lare), whose condition victory in 1:50 on Saturday night was the fastest time of the week at Pocono; Ideal Candidate (George Napolitano Jr., Dean Eckley), who followed up two straight wins at Harrah's with a claiming handicap victory at Pocono on Saturday night in 1:51:2, a new career mark; and Gordys Filly Yenta (Simon Allard and Jason Bartlett, Conor Flynn), a mare who won twice this week, a condition on Sunday and a claimer on Wednesday, each in a time of 1:52:2.
TROTTER OF THE WEEK: PERFECT RENDITION
In a $15,000 to $20,000 claiming handicap on Wednesday night, two extremely hot horses, Easter Leggs and P L Eureka, lined up alongside each other.
Easter Leggs had won two of her last three races, while P L Eureka had won four of five, with his only loss in the stretch coming at the hands of Easter Leggs.
Meanwhile Perfect Rendition had a pretty good record of his own to stand on, but since much of his success had come at Monticello, including a win in his last start, and since he was stuck with the #9 post, he was overlooked in favor of the others, going off at 14-1 on the tote board.
Trained by Kimberly Asher, Perfect Rendition was fourth early on as favored Easter Leggs set the pace.
Driver Larry Stalbaum stayed patient with Perfect Rendition, a nine-year-old gelding, moving up to third-in on the back stretch when another horse headed to the outside.
Still, as the top of the stretch approached, Easter Leggs still had the lead and Perfect Rendition appeared to have precious little racing room.
Yet Stalbaum was able to squeeze his horse through a tight window at the pylons. Easter Leggs began to falter and Perfect Rendition, full of energy, charged through this tiny aperture and blew by.
He still had to sweat out a strong closing move by Trading Places, but he held up to win by a head in 1:55.
It just adds to the wonderful year this veteran is having, with ten in-the-money finishes in eleven starts and six wins.
Honorable mention on the trotting side goes to: Cadillac Cruiser (Simon Allard, Pierre Paradis), who rolled to a claiming handicap victory on Wednesday night in 1:53:4, the fastest trotting time of the week at Pocono; She Wore Red (Anthony Napolitano, Nancy Johansson), a filly who rallied for her second consecutive condition win on Tuesday night, setting a new career-best of 1:55:1 in the process; and Born To Fight (Anthony Napolitano, Mark Ford), who overcame a tough outside post to score his second straight condition win on Sunday night in 1:55:3.
LONG SHOT OF THE WEEK: GORDYS FILLY YENTA
This pacing mare sent the crowd home stunned on Sunday night by winning a condition in the last race of the night at 16-1, paying off $35.60 on a $2 wager.
DRIVER OF THE WEEK: LARRY STALBAUM
Stalbaum had his best night of the meet at Pocono on Saturday night when the competition was at its toughest, as he picked up three driving victories.
TRAINER OF THE WEEK: AKE SVANSTEDT
Following up on his big year at Pocono in 2014, Svanstedt has continued to roll this season, and he added to his total this week with three more training wins including a double on Sunday.
That will do it for this week, but we'll see you at the track. Feel free to e-mail me at jbeviglia@mohegansunpocono.com.
Jim Beviglia