from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (August 14) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Harrington Raceway, Yonkers Raceway, Pocono Downs, Northfield Park, Saratoga Harness, Batavia Downs, Cal-Expo and Vernon Downs.

Back to the Track night in the books at Harrington

Fotowon

The largest crowd of the season saw Definitely Maybe win the ‘Gray Horse Invitational’ on Back to the Track night at Harrington.

Harrington, DE — The largest crowd of the season was on hand to attend the inaugural ‘Back to the Track’ night at the races Saturday at Harrington Raceway. Fans participated in a variety of giveaways and promotions throughout the evening, as a ‘Gray Horse Invitational’ headlined the racing program. It was the first ever all gray/roan colored horse event held at Harrington. Crissman Inc. and Richard Zulick’s Definitely Maybe (Tony Morgan) won the event with a wire-to-wire score for his sixth win of the year. It was one of two driving wins on the program for Morgan, both of which were trained by Harrington’s leading trainer, Tim Crissman.

— Matthew Sparacino

Yonkers Raceway
Atochia (Yannick Gingras) was a repeat winner Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway’s $42,500 Open Handicap Pace. Atochia defeated Giddy Up Lucky (Eric Goodell), by a head in 1:53.1. For Atochia, a 5-year-old Dragon Again gelding co-owned by (trainer) Ronnie Burke, Weaver Bruscemi, JJK & M1 Stables, he returned $6.70 (second choice) for his fifth win in 19 seasonal starts.

Saturday evening, Yonkers Raceway also participated in the US Trotting Association’s “Back to the Track” promotion. The event, with help from the weatherman, made the track apron a bustling place. Giveaways included Empire Terrace dinners, driver’s colors, a USTA-sponsored trip the Little Brown Jug and Jason Bartlett bobble head dolls.

Pocono Downs
Jeremy’s Successor, driven by George Napolitano Jr. outpaced Golden Receiver (Andrew McCarthy) to win the featured open handicap pace of the week at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. Time of the mile was 1:50.3 and it was a three-quarter of a length win for Jeremy’s Successor, who was second in this condition July 24 with a 1:48.3 mile. Finishing third in back of Golden Receiver was Where’s Waldo (Joe Pavia Jr.). This was the sixth win in 23 starts for Jeremy’s Successor, trained by Dean Eckley.

The Back To The Track Promotion, in conjunction with the United States Trotting Association, brought out a big Saturday night crowd. Seven lucky fans got to ride in the starting car while Player’s Club members received a free $5 wager and T-Shirt with a friend also receiving the like. There also was 50-cent hotdogs, soda and beer. Highlight of the evening was the awarding of all-expenses paid trip for two to the 2010 Little Brown Jug in Ohio in September and the lucky winner via drawing was Ed Stella of Jessup, Pa.

Northfield Park
Kurt Sugg and Dan Charlino, along with the injured Aaron Merriman, were featured in Northfield Park’s driver meet and greet Saturday night, as part of the nationwide Back To The Track promotion, and then Sugg and Charlino split the local feature races, combining for exactas in both. Sugg took the $5,500 Open Trot with Muscle Sprouts ($8.00), a 10-year-old Muscles Yankee gelding who has bounced back from a multi-year layoff to win five of 14 starts and $15,332 this year. Last week’s winner, Master Buckin Uhl, driven by Charlino, was second and rail-sitting Celebrity Wonder earned show money. Bob Schlabach of Sugarcreek, Ohio, owns Muscle Sprouts. Maggies Son A ($7.80), in line to Charlino, cruised to a 1:54.2 win in the $5,500 Open Pace, as he went over $250,000 in career earnings. An 11-year-old son of Safely Kept, Charlino moved aggressively to the front at the half and controlled matters from there for Zanesville owner Brent Davis and trainer R. Mac Davis. Camcoder, with Sugg in the bike, was second and Wow Power finished third.

The Back To The Track festivities at Northfield included drawings for starter car rides, fun packs, I-pods and betting vouchers, as well as a 15% off sale in the gift shop. A $1,000 free-to-enter handicapping contest (Results will be featured in Keeping Pace, which will be issued Tuesday, August 17) was well-received by patrons, who received free parking, admission and programs for both Northfield’s live card and the National Pick 4, which featured Northfield’s 9th race.

Saratoga Harness
Free-For-All Pacers got their last chance to accrue points towards the $125,000 final of the Joe Gerrity Jr Memorial Pacing Series on Saturday night at Saratoga and the three divisions of the series’ third leg were good ones. Daley Deposit Only stopped the timer in 1:52.4, the fastest clocking of the night. My Gift To You moved his record to two-for-two in the Gerrity Series on Saturday behind a wire-to-wire effort with leading driver Frank Coppola Jr at the lines for trainer Ryan Anderson. My Gift To You went the distance in 1:53 to register his ninth victory of the year and second straight in the series. Livefreeordiehard took advantage of a ton of early speed to out-close his rivals in the final division of the third leg to pull off the upset. The Jackie Rousse trainee recorded a well timed win to go with two third place finishes in the series’ first legs which just might get the 5-year-old in the series final. Wally Hennessey catch drove Livefreeordiehard who was the biggest longshot to win a leg of the series, returning $35.20 to win on Saturday. The Gerrity Final will take place Saturday, August 21.

Batavia Downs
The comeback Kid, Two Twentytwo made it look easy when he notched his second straight $9,000 Preferred Handicap victory, Saturday night (Aug-14), ‘Back to the Track night’, at Batavia Downs Casino. Two Twentytwo powered to a 4-1/2 length score in 1:53.2. Former Downs track record holder Michael Scores (Tom Agosti) came on to be second while Cry for Cash (Ken Holliday) got the show dough. Two Twentytwo, off two years due to an injury, is a chestnut son of Blissful Hall. He is owned by Dominic Colarusso Jr. and trained by Richie Mays. Saturday nights win was the 11th of Two Twentytwo’s career and it raised his lifetime earnings to over $207,000.

Many thanks to everyone that participated in the ‘Back to the Track’ promotion especially Paul Wright and family who brought over a very well behaved Carolina Red to the paddock room for photos and so racing fans could learn more about the sport. Other popular ‘Back to the Track’ promotions included a drawing for a trip to the 2010 Little Brown Jug won by John Milroy. Driver autographs before the races and a special handicapping contest for prizes.

Cal-Expo
Five conditioned pacers, and one lady in for a tag, specifically Scooter Babe, were featured at Cal-Expo on Saturday night (August 14) for a purse of $4,800, on which the lady in for a tag was a winner. Owned by Larry Barker and Kathleen Plested, Scooter Babe stopped the timer at 1:56.1. Red Star Ruffles (Etienne Desomer) was just up to be second, and Real Suspicion finished just a head back, in third. “She has given her all ever since I got her and is a true statement that big things come in small packages,” finished Wiseman.

Vernon Downs
Waltrip Hanover came within two-fifths of a second of the track record for older pacing horses with his 1:51.3 showing in Saturday night’s $9,000 featured sixth race at Vernon Downs. Leaving from post six in the seven side-wheeler Miracle Mile-2 test, Waltrip Hanover shot right to the front for driver Howard Okusko, Jr. and remained there to the half, reached in :55.2. The Jessica Okusko-conditioned 5-year-old relinquished the lead to the betting favorite, You Bet Your Glass, until the final sixteenth, and then bounced back to win by a head. In addition to equaling his personal speed mark, the career winner of nearly $87,000 notched his second season’s score and 12th all time. Wanda Polisseni’s Purple Haze Stables owns the fleet-footed son of The Panderosa-Witchin Flight, who earned his record here last season.