from harness publicists across North America

Saturday night’s (Sept. 3) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Tioga Downs, Vernon Downs and Pocono Downs.

Dragin The Wagon wires top Tioga trotters

Nichols, NY — After his dominant win over Open 2 trotters last week, James Cantelon’s Dragin The Wagon ($7.00) made a successful jump to Open 1 company at Tioga Downs, capturing the $13,000 feature on Saturday evening in pillar-to-post fashion.

Fred Brown photo

Dragin The Wagon (Aaron Byron) evades Its Payday Friday in Saturday’s $13,000 Open 1 Trot.

Aaron Byron had the 6-year-old Angus Hall gelding in play from the outset, sprinting clear of Brandos Muscle Man (Mike Merton) in the first few strides of a :27 first quarter. Dragin The Wagon immediately backed the pace down before bracing for the first-over bid of odds-on favorite Its Payday Friday (Mike Simons) up the far side.

Dragin The Wagon subsequently parried the challenge of his opponents after intermediate splits of :57 and 1:25, digging in through the homestretch to prevail by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:54. Its Payday Friday narrowly held second over Brandos Muscle Man, who was hard pressed for racing room from a tight pocket trip.

Jeff Byron trains 30-time winner Dragin The Wagon for owner James Cantelon.

Mike Merton led all drivers for a second consecutive night, taking three of the night’s nine races.

LIve racing returns to Tioga Downs on Monday (Sept. 5) afternoon; the 10-race Labor Day card is slated to commence at 1:30 p.m. (EDT).

— James Witherite

Vernon Downs

Pop I ($10.40) sustained steady first-over gains through the far turn and ultimately reeled in 3-5 favorite Rules Of The Road in Saturday evening’s featured $9,000 Miracle Mile/Open Trot at Vernon Downs. Greg Merton situated the 6-year-old Andover Hall gelding in midfield early on before a last-to-first brush from Rules Of The Road (Chuck Connor Jr.) relegated Pop I to fourth at the completion of a :57.1 half-mile. Pop I was quick to reclaim ground, angling first-over on approach to the far turn and steadily gaining on approach to the top of the stretch. Despite Rules Of The Road’s best attempts to evade her competition after a :28.2 third quarter, Pop I collared her in mid-stretch and drew off to a 1-3/4 length victory in 1:55. Wine Photo (Roman Lopez) made a stand-side rally from last to claim second, while Rules Of The Road faded to third. Harry Landy trains Pop I for Glat Kosher Racing.

Pocono Downs

Luck Be Withyou, racing at the track that he absolutely loves, gained into a :27 last quarter coming out of the pocket to catch Mel Mara by a head in the $25,000 winners-over handicap pace Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, stopping the clock in 1:49. The two faced each other on Sun Stakes Saturday night two weeks ago, with Luck Be Withyou drawing post seven and Mel Mara post four. With the :25.3 first quarter gone by Luck Be Withyou it took just enough out of him that he came up a half-length short of Mel Mara in 1:47.2. Tonight, with the post advantage reversed – Luck Be Withyou five, Mel Mara six – the result was reversed as well. George Napolitano Jr. guided the son of Western Ideal to the lead past a :26.1 opener, then stung Mel Mara (driver Andrew McCarthy), who had left right behind him and then was out raw, until past the three-eighths before releasing him to the lead. After the :53.3 strength-sapping half, Mel Mara got a relative breather with a 1:22 three-quarter clocking, but turning for home Napolitano and Luck Be Withyou were out and driving, and though Mel Mara came home in :27, the pocket rocket came home even faster, winning by a head. At two, Luck Be Withyou won the Breeders Crown at Pocono; at three he went 4-for-4 here and took a mark of 1:48 that lasted until a couple of months ago; at four he won both a Franklin FFA elimination and then the final; and this year at five he won the Franklin Consolation, lowering his mark a tick to 1:47.4. The winner of $1,267,781 for owner John Craig was the third successful collaboration of the evening for driver Napolitano and trainer Chris Oakes; George’s brother Anthony also drove three winners. Although Andrew McCarthy just missed in the feature, he did have three winners as well on the Saturday Pocono card, and all at nice prices, including $95.80 bomber Nathan Feelsgood in the race before the feature and Stamkos ($35.20) in the race after the feature, along with winning the $20,000 subfeature with Star Cover, who despite winning for the fourth time in five Pocono starts opened the evening with a $23.60 payoff. McCarthy has four $50 and up horses now at both Pocono (where he is third behind Marcus Miller’s eight and Tom Jackson’s five) and Philly (one behind Tony Morgan and even with Pat Berry). McCarthy is also the only driver to have two $100 plus winners at Philly this year, including a win with the longest of 2016 longshots at the riverside oval, $229.20 victress Shortstory Hanover. Sunday’s card (Sept. 4) will start at the special post time of 4:30 p.m., with fireworks and a concert to follow. Monday’s racing (Sept. 5) will also begin at 4:30 p.m.; Pocono will be doing all of its Monday racing through the end of the year at the twilight post time.