from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre PA — The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono held four $252,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes finals for 3-year-olds on Sunday (Sept. 2) with Phaetosive, Kissin In The Sand, Crystal Fashion and Dorsoduro Hanover coming away with the victories.

The 2018 season marks the 25th anniversary year of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes (started in 1994).

Here are recaps of the four finals (and consolations).

TROTTING FILLIES

Phaetosive made her 1-20 backers wait until the stretch before beginning her high speed, but once in her favorite part of the track the daughter of Explosive Matter lived up to her sire’s name, kicking home sharply for the decision in 1:52.3 — faster than the 1:52.4 previous PASS final male standard of Father Patrick which would be tied earlier in the evening by Crystal Fashion (Check Me Out became the program’s fastest-ever championship trotting winner when she won in 1:51.3).

Phaetosive was an impressive winner in a time of 1:52.3.

Trainer/driver Trond Smedshammer was content to keep his filly mid-pack as Live Laugh Love made the top just past the :27.1 quarter, then followed Seviyorum as that one moved uncovered just past the :56.1 half. Phaetosive stayed right behind her excellent cover to the lane, swung wide, and finished strongly to hold off a late-shaking-free Courtney Hanover by a length, with Lily Stride, who rallied up the inside in the stretch and may have had a nose in front mid-stretch, just nipped for the deuce.

The pride of the Purple Haze Stables continued adding to her impressive credentials with five wins in seven starts this year, good for $397,864, and nine-for-14 lifetime, with a total accumulation of $657,717. No doubt she’ll be back up against Manchego, Atlanta, Plunge Blue Chip et al. soon.

Consolation: Trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt wasted no time hustling the Cantab Hall filly S M S Princess to the lead, and that filly had a clear margin almost all the way through fractions of :27.2, :56.4, and 1:25 en route to a new mark of 1:52.3. No one could make up ground in the back numbers of :55.4–:27.3 thrown by the $162,453 winner S M S Princess, 5-1/2 lengths clear for owners Åke Svanstedt Inc. and Stall Musse Inc.

PACING FILLIES

Kissin In The Sand had to take less air at Pocono than she did when she won the Lynch final here in June; she only got parked almost to the half here, instead of being out almost the whole mile, in making the PASS championship lead, then keeping it to the wire to win her Sires final, equaling her Lynch clocking and her mark in 1:49.3.

Scott Zeron drove Kissin In The Sand to a 1:49.3 victory.

The daughter of Somebeachsomewhere saw a great many foes leaving inside her from her post seven starting spot, having cover past the :26.1 quarter to the three-eighths then asked to go on by driver Scott Zeron to get the lead shortly before the :54.1 half.

Outside challenger Sidewalk Dancer began to melt back past the 1:21.3 three-quarters, and in the lane it turned out to be 31-1 shot Parisian Blue Chip, who tied for ninth in the points and got in by having slightly more SS money, who rallied inside in the stretch. She extended Kissin In The Sand, who dug down deep as usual and held on by a half-length.

Kissin In The Sand is trained by Nancy Johansson for owners Marvin Katz and the Hatfield Stables, who saw their prize filly improve her statistics to seven-for-10 and $570,381 this year and 14-for-24 and $801,556 lifetime.

Consolation: The Well Said filly Strong Opinion got a big breather while setting the pace in her event, getting to the half in :57.2, then sprinted home in :55.1, and needed all of it to win by a half-length in 1:52.3 in a race where the top five were within a length of each other under the wire. Yannick Gingras guided the victorious Ron Burke pupil, who raised her earnings to $244,448 for the ownership of Burke Racing Stable, Jack Piatt II, Silva, Purnel & Libby and Weaver Bruscemi.

TROTTING COLTS

In Crystal Fashion’s last seven victories, six of them have been by a length or less and none of them was this second-over then wide grind in the championship, catching pacesetter Whats The Word by a nose in 1:52.4.

Crystal Fashion defeated Whats The Word by a nose in 1:52.4.

Whats The Word was sent by the top by Simon Allard and laid down fractions of :27, :56.2, and 1:24.2. Crystal Fashion was able to fashion a second-over trip for driver Tim Tetrick behind stablemate Patent Leather, but still was two lengths out near head-stretch. But the gutty Cantab Hall gelding doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “end of the mile,” and he gained foot-by-foot to just prove more photogenic on the money.

Crystal Fashion, trained by Jim Campbell for Fashion Farms, has eight wins and $652,182 this year, and a lifetime bankroll of $813,474. His 1:52.4 clocking equaled Father Patrick’s PASS final standard, and he became the first point winner to take a 3-year-old championship since 2016, and the first in the trotting colt ranks since Magic Tonight in 2012.

Consolation: All three consolations wound up going in 1:52.3, two of the quick clockings by trotters, and both handled by trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt while winging on the front end. The male was the Cantab Hall gelding Gemologist, who never looked back from the rail in posting fractions of :27, :56, and 1:24, then finishing out to take a new mark while four lengths clear at the finish. The winner is owned by the S R F Stable. Second was the freshman Stallion Series and Fair Sire Stakes champion Hockey Hanover; last year’s Sire Stake champion Fashionwoodchopper had to settle for fourth in this consolation.

PACING COLTS

The favorites were winless in the 2-year-old ranks of the PASS championship the day before at The Meadows; Dorsoduro Hanover, who won his biggest race of the year, The Adios, at The Meadows, brought the chalk to four-for-four in the Pocono PASS championships, but it was by the barest of margins over a strong-finishing Hayden Hanover.

Curtis Salonick photos

Dorsoduro Hanover was a nose winner in a time of 1:49.4.

Hayden Hanover was the first horse to get a call in the contest, but then yielded to Done Well nearing the :26.2 quarter; Done Well in turn ceded the lead to the Somebeachsomewhere gelding Dorsoduro Hanover and driver Matt Kakaley en route to the :54.2 half. This Is The Plan, a 49-1 shot, went first-over and just wouldn’t go away, not by the 1:22 three-quarters and not coming through the stretch. This posed traffic problems for Hayden Hanover, stuck third on the rail, but Andy Miller did a masterful job weaving first out to get clearance then just inside Dorsoduro Hanover to lower that one’s margin with every late step, coming up short by a nose in the 1:49.4 mile.

Dorsoduro Hanover ran his 2018 bankroll to $687,362 with his seventh win of the year for trainer Ron Burke and the ownership of Burke Racing Stable, Silva, Purnel & Libby, Weaver Bruscemi and the Winfield Five. He joined Crystal Fashion as point leaders who won their championship.

A consolation event for this division did not fill.