Luck Be Withyou wins $50,000 Van Rose Invitational
May 7, 2016,from the PHHA/Pocono
Wilkes-Barre, PA — Pocono resume of Luck Be Withyou: 2013 – Breeders Crown winner at two at the mountain oval; 2014 – took his lifetime mark of 1:48 here; 2015 – Ben Franklin final winner despite post nine and Pocono Pacer of the Year; 2016 – Van Rose Invitational winner in 1:48.4 in only his second start of the year.
Luck Be Withyou, a 5-year-old son of Western Ideal who loves The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, came out of the pocket behind a blistering pace set by JK Endofanera to win the $50,000 Rose Invitational by a neck on Saturday (May 7).
Luck Be Withyou left strongly to get the garden spot behind JK Endofanera, who whistled to the quarter in :25.4, rated the half against the wind to a fairly-moderate :54.3, then tacked on a :26.2 third quarter to open a clear lead at and past the 1:21 three-quarters.
But George Napolitano Jr., the Downs’ all-time leading driver, got Luck Be Withyou narrowing the gap into the stretch, with P H Supercam, the only other horse connected to the front, swinging three-wide as the winner vacated the pocket.
Luck Be Withyou drove down the center of the track and picked up JK Endofanera late to win by a neck, with P H Supercam just another neck back in third.
Rockeyed Optimist, the favorite from post six, was away sixth and had non-flowing cover, and was only able to rally for fourth. Levy hero Bit Of A Legend N, stuck with the outside post nine, was also thwarted by the speed-burners inside him, took back, raced fourth-over, and could do no better than sixth.
“The two of us get together on this track pretty well,” understated Napolitano, who also noted, “And this was only his second start after a long layoff.”
Before his 2016 debut last week, he had last raced at Balmoral on Nov. 7.
Chris Oakes is the horse’s regular conditioner when he is racing in the area, and John Craig saw his veteran raise his lifetime bankroll to $1,138,781 with the fastest mile of the year at Pocono, taken with the mercury in the low 50s and with a decent stretch headwind.
- Upsets abound in Pennsylvania All-Stars competition (Saturday, May 07, 2016)
Three $30,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event for state-bred 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings were featured on the afternoon portion of a Kentucky Derby doubleheader on Saturday (May 7) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Some sophomores who had been flying “just under the radar” at two took advantage of breaks by the divisional favorites and got their 2016 stakes seasons off to a fast start.
- Burke sweeps top spots in PA Classic; Pure Country captures Miss Pennsylvania (Saturday, May 07, 2016)
Ron Burke trainees finished 1-2-3 in the inaugural $561,500 Pennsylvania Classic final for state-sired 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings Saturday night (May 7) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with Check Six going a big mile on the front end to reduce his mark a tick to 1:50.3. In the companion filly event, the $313,800 Miss Pennsylvania final, Pure Country bounced back from her first loss in the previous week’s elimination race, going the first-over route and still matching the 1:50.3 clocking of Check Six.