by Evan Pattak, for the Meadows

Meadow Lands, PA — In Focus, whose focus was anything but sharp in his two most recent efforts, regained his best form on Friday (August 1) at The Meadows when he trotted to a stakes record 1:54.3 in the $204,637 Pennsylvania Sires Stake for 3-year-old colts and geldings.

The stake, known as the Hickory Smoke, was contested over three divisions, with Dennis and Casperdfrendlyhors capturing the other splits.

Chris Gooden photo

In Focus won his PASS split in a stakes record time of 1:54.3.

Undefeated on the season going into the Reynolds, In Focus broke stride in that event, then followed that with more gaiting misadventures in a 3-year-old Open at the Meadowlands.

In the Hickory Smoke, the son of S J’s Photo-Beverly Crusher flashed his early-season form, scoring wire-to-wire by 6-1/2 lengths over Lucky Jim, with Reputation third. He erased the previous Hickory Smoke record of 1:55 established by Baccardi Lindy and Daniel Dube in 2006.

“He seems to love The Meadows, and this was the best I’ve seen him here,” said winning driver Dave Palone. “He got around the turns much better today. It would have taken a pretty good horse to beat him.”

Jimmy Takter trains In Focus for Christina Takter, Jim Fielding and John Fielding.

Dennis was fresh off an all-out, unsuccessful effort to qualify for the Hambletonian, an exertion that trainer Roland Mallar feared might leave him flat for the Hickory Smoke.

“He had a rough three weeks with the shipping and the heat,” Mallar said. “It takes its toll on some of them. He’s not a big-framed horse anyway, and he could probably use 10 days or two weeks off. He put in a good effort today. He hung in there.”

Mike Simons sent Dennis on a quarter-pole move, and the gelded son of Lindy Lane-Betty Jean made it stand up. He prevailed in 1:55.2, 1-3/4 lengths better than The Pres. NF Rivertown finished third.

Bob Slowey, Anthony Minute and Dennis Osterholt own the homebred Dennis, whose remaining stake engagements include the Old Oaken Bucket.

Casperdfrendlyhors overcame post position eight by gunning for the lead for driver Dick Stillings, then yielding to An Honorable Man for a neat pocket journey. He lowered his lifetime mark a full second by scoring in 1:56. An Honorable Man was a half-length back in second while Skad’s Winner trotted evenly to collect show money.

“I left from the nine hole with him a couple starts back, and he raced well,” Stillings said. “Today was a little different in that he got to the top quick and was able to sit in the pocket.”

Rich Gillock trains the gelded son of S J’s Photo-Halls Plus, a mid-season acquisition for J.D. Snyder, Jr.

In the $23,000 Filly & Mare Preferred Handicap Pace, Jans Luck endured a parked-out opening panel in :26.4 but hung on by a neck in 1:52.3 over the hard-charging Streetcarnamedsire. Palone drove the Mickey Burke trainee for the partnership of Sylvia Burke, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, JJK Stables and M1 Stable .

The card also featured the third leg of the A.W. Capone series for freshman colt and gelding trotters. Capturing $8,000 divisions were Bad As Billy (Broadway Hall-Seven Ahead), Our Rail Fantasy (Beat The Rail-Fantasy Hanover) and Photoforwin (S J’s Photo-Sierra Belle).