from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono will have its first four-card racing schedule in place this Saturday through Tuesday.

This is the basic schedule to be used at the mountain oval throughout the 2017 season, with the odd exception (Easter Sunday, April 16, is dark, and there will be a doubleheader of racing cards on Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 6).

Saturdays will be reserved mostly for the fast-class elite pacers racing in high-purse overnight events. With Crafty Master establishing the 1:50.2 early-season mark here last Saturday, and Casimir Jitterbug shipping back to Pocono after a 1:50.3 win at Harrah’s Philadelphia, the magic 1:50 barrier may be broken on Saturday with cooperation from the weather.

Sunday’s card has no fewer than seven divisions of pacers contesting their second preliminary leg of the $750,000 Bobby Weiss Series for developing horses. There will be four divisions of the event for male horses, races one, three, five, and 10, with all of these contests featuring the standard Weiss preliminary round purse in all divisions of $15,000, with the ladies under the spotlight in events four, 11, and 12.

The main attention to the males will be split between races five, where 1:51.3 winner Dash Of Danger returns, but must overcome the outside draw in the field of seven, and another first-round winner, Highalator, who will be going for his seventh straight win from post four in the 10th race.

Among the females, eyes will be primarily watching I Deal In Kisses, fastest first round Weiss winner, starting from post two in race 12 for the red-hot brother team of driver Simon and trainer Rene Allard, and Yonkers shipper Cousin Mary, coming to town after winning all four of her races, including the championship, in the Petticoat Series at Yonkers. She’ll be behind gate slot seven in the fourth race.

The first Monday card of the year will feature talented overnight trotters, with two divisions of a $16,000 conditioned trot, and the very competitive high-level claiming handicap trot group. For the last two Weiss preliminary legs, the pacing action will shift from Sundays to Mondays.

Tuesday’s card will feature the second Weiss prelim for trotting distaffs, and the first round of series action for their male counterparts, with the ladies set for action in races three, five, and 12 and the boys contesting the seventh, ninth, and 11th slots.

The greatest interest in the female side of the action will likely result from race five, where last week’s two fastest Weiss winners, Sunrise Avenue and Hot Mess Hanover, are in against each other. Hot Mess Hanover won in 1:56.3 last week, a tick faster than her rival, but this week Sunrise Avenue gets the advantage of post three, while Hot Mess Hanover will start from post six.

Among the more interesting of the prospects among the male trotters are Uncle Leroy (race seven, post four), who won 17 times at the Ohio fairs at two and three and comes off a crackerjack win at The Meadowlands, and Hilarious Hero (race 11, post eight), who made his first start of the year at Pocono and won in 1:57, last quarter :28.2.