by PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — Trainer John Butenschoen took the first three of five divisions of the third preliminary leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for 2-year-old trotting colts on a “sloppy” track Sunday (Aug. 21) at Mohegan Sun Pocono. However, he lost his streak in the fourth, with the only baby, ironically, who had a win in each of the first two legs.

Curtis Salonick photo

Giveitgasandgo captures his third consecutive race for trainer John Butenschoen in PaSS action at Pocono.

But success comes first, and a Butenschoen trainee was the fastest of the five winners. That would be Giveitgasandgo, a Yankee Glide-Mazda Hanover colt who has now won three in a row, the last two Sires events. On Sunday he overcame the outermost post seven by making every pole a winning one in 1:57.1. Corey Callahan, who has been a red-hot teammate of Butenschoen’s in stakes events lately, guided the odds-on winner for the ownership of Harmony Oaks Racing Stable Inc., David Miller, Lawrence Means, and VIP Internet Stable LLC.

Callahan also was behind one of Butenschoen’s two other Sire Stakes winners, both of whom had been Stallion Series winners that have now made the successful step-up to Sire Stakes competition. Corey was handling the Crazed-Sterling Volo gelding Simply Volo. The second choice of the crowd, he parlayed a second-over trip into a new mark of 1:58.4 for owners Miller and Means, giving them a stakes double along with Giveitgasandgo, and their partners in Simply Volo, Kentuckiana Racing Stable and Eugene Schick.

Mike Simons, Pocono’s “Trot Man,” drove the third Butenschoen winner, the Andover Hall-Wishful Me gelding Wiagram Hanover, and for very good reason–he is a co-owner of the rookie, along with Christopher Giaccio and Albert Abdala III. Simons moved Wiagram Hanover from fifth to first during the second quarter and put a new lifetime mark of 1:58 on the 3-1 third choice.

The stage was thus set when Butenschoen sent out Dover Dan, the only double winner in the Sires to date, but a glance at the tote board, which held him as 8-5 second choice, augured anything but a waltz here. The 1-2 favorite was the Muscle Massive-Tetiana gelding Muscles Jared, coming off successive 1:56.1 scores. The powerful trotter rolled to his third straight win in 1:58 by open lengths over Andy M, with Dover Dan tiring after a first-over trip and finishing third. Trainer George Ducharme and owner Al Ross, part of Team Royalty For Life a couple of years back, look to have a fine one in the making here. They did well in picking John Campbell as the driver, as not too far back in Muscles Jared’s pedigree you’ll find Armbro Keepsake, a champion mare whom Campbell guided to a Breeders Crown victory.

Muscle Massive garnered a siring double in the other division, which looked the most competitive having gathered four previous Sires contest winners. The chalk, however, prevailed in Snowstorm Hanover, a colt out of Snow Angel Hanover, who was on the lead at the three-quarter marker in the Peter Haughton final before making a miscue. Snowstorm’s demeanor was perfect tonight despite the off going. He powered home from second-over for a 1:57.3 victory for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Ron Burke and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC, Frank Baldachino, Phillip Collura, and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.

As this group of trotters heads to Harrah’s Philadelphia for its final preliminary on Sept. 1, to call the pointstandings “crowded” would be an understatement. With a 35-25-15-10-8-5-4-2-1 point system based on finish, and an *asterisk indicating two-time winners below, the unofficial standings after three legs are *Dover Dan, 85; *Giveitgasandgo, 80; You Cant Habit, 75; *Muscles Jared, 72; Moonshiner Hanover and *Snowstorm Hanover, tied with 70; Affair Of Honor, 60; and Box Of Luck, 58.

The top eight get into the championship event. Two also eligibles are programmed and can draw into the race until 6 p.m. the night before. Those two spots right now are occupied by Andy M and Phi Alpha, who are tied at 55. With ten horses “on the bubble” at less than 20 points behind the top eight, the action at Harrah’s should be fierce the first day of September.

Marcus Miller, “Mr. Longshot” at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono over the last two years, won the 11th and 12th races at the mountain oval Sunday night and rocked the toteboard with a 1-2 punch. First he guided Soda Pump to an $83.80 victory and then he followed up in the very next race with $71.20 stunner Goldin Parachute.

For Miller, the twin bombers were his seventh and eighth at the 2016 meet. Last year he led Pocono for the entire year’s racing with five winners of $50 or more. Since July 1, he’s had six of the 12 horses in this price category, two of them coming within three races on Super Stakes Saturday on July 2, giving him two cards with two $50-plus winners in 2016. Tom Jackson is his nearest rival at the current Pocono meet with four longshot triumphs.

It should be noted that the trainer of Soda Pump is Clifton Green, who’s getting to be the “Mr. Longshot” of the training set. This $83.80 winner gives him three on the meet, tying him at the top of the Pocono conditioners’ list with a person that will surprise some — Ron Burke. On July 26, Miller and Green hooked up to produce $154.20 winner Larson Hanover at Pocono.