from harness publicists across North America

Sunday’s (May 3) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Tioga Downs, Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Road Untraveled makes all the difference in Tioga co-feature

Nichols, NY — Fresh off a pair of second-place finishes at Pocono, Road Untraveled ($3.20) made a strong early push to the fore and never looked back en route to a 1:50.1 victory in one of two co-featured $8,800 upper-level conditioned pacing events on Sunday (May 3) afternoon at Tioga Downs.

Fred Brown photo

Road Untraveled turned in a decisive 1:50.1 win in Sunday’s co-featured $8,800 upper-level conditioned pace at Tioga Downs.

Driver Mike Simons pushed to the lead with the 7-year-old Grinfromeartoear gelding in the initial stages, but couldn’t back down the pace after clearing Hurricane Howard (Jim Marohn Jr.) in a :26.4 initial quarter due to strong pressure from the first-over American Island (John Cummings Jr.) through a :54.2 first half.

On the backstretch, Road Untraveled turned aside American Island’s threat, subsequently sprinting clear of his pocket rival Hurricane Howard to prevail by 3-3/4 lengths in a decisive 1:50.1. Hurricane Howard held second, while Artistic Major (Aaron Byron) was urged to stay even late, holding third off a tracking trip.

Mike Simons’ son Shawn handles the training duties of the 16-time winner, while the elder Simons shares ownership of Road Untraveled with Christopher Giaccio.

While Road Untraveled kicked clear after setting the pace, Cobble Beach ($6.00) rallied off cover before a slingshot move to a 5-3/4 length win in the other co-featured event. The 5-year-old Artiscape gelding drafted behind the cover of Oh My Joepa (Corey Braden) on the backstretch, pushing to the fore when John Cummings Jr. moved him three-wide on the far turn. Cobble Beach drew clear at will through the stretch, soundly defeating Oh My Joepa and Dreamlands Art (Simons) in 1:52.3.

James Clouser Jr. owns and trains the 11-time winner.

After Mike Simons won five races on Opening Night, perennial leading driver Jim Marohn Jr. returned to Tioga for the Sunday afternoon card, registering five wins of his own on the 11-race program. In addition to a 1:51.4 win with Prairie Jaguar ($7.00) in a third-level conditioned event, he was victorious behind Stonebridge Tonic ($5.10, 1:52.1), Affluenza ($4.10, 1:51.4), Terrys Star Dragon ($7.70, 1:53.1) and Brandons Escape ($13.20, 1:53.3).

Simons scored a Sunday driving double, as did John Cummings Jr. and Brandon Simpson.

Live racing returns to Tioga on Friday (May 8) evening, with first post scheduled for 6:15 p.m. (EDT).

— James Witherite

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Blazin Benny (Angus Hall) lengthened his lead on Sunday as the winningest horse of the meet at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The claiming trotter scored his seventh local win of the season, including six straight, by going wire-to-wire with Mark Beckwith in the sulky. Blazin Benny stepped up to the $15,000 claiming level for the first time this year and had little difficultly cruising to a seasonal best-matching victory in 1:56.1. After competing at a high level at Freehold Raceway this winter, Blazin Benny now has recorded 12 wins in 2015. It was one of two scores on the day for leading trainer Melissa Beckwith who is off to a huge start to the ’15 campaign. Slugfest (Conway Hall) prevailed in the afternoon’s feature, scoring in 1:55.2 to match his own time as the fastest for any trotter at the Spa this season. Jay Randall piloted Slugfest for trainer Maureen Salino. Live racing resumes on Thursday at Saratoga with first post time set for 4 p.m.

Harrah’s Philadelphia
For the second time in two weeks, 7-year-old pacer Adventure Bound went under the 1:50 mark at Harrah’s Philadelphia. The son of Camluck started from post four in the feature on Sunday afternoon, an event for upper-conditioned level pacers. He was able to secure the pocket seat early on, as Teddy Baker trainee Getitoffyourchest (Brett Miller) was able to cross over from post eight to set the tempo. The 5-year-old gelding by Tell All was coming off a 1:49.3 effort over this surface in his last outing. Little Bapa LLC’s American Venture (Eric Carlson) rushed up to challenge at the three-quarters (1:21.4), but began to retreat before the head of the stretch. It was down to the two pacesetters as they battled to the wire. Adventure Bound came home in :27.1 to win by a length, equaling his lifetime best performance of 1:49.2. It was the Eric Ell trainee’s 28th career win, putting him just under $500,000 in career earnings. The winner paid $8.20. Drivers Corey Callahan and Brett Miller had four wins on the program, while leading driver George Napolitano Jr. had three.