from the PHHA/Pocono
Wilkes-Barre, PA — The Pocono “King of the Longshots” struck again in the last race of July and paid $95.40 to win.
Marcus Miller had five winners pay $50 or more to win during the course of the 139-card, 2015 meet at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono to top all other members of the local driving colony. In Sunday’s 14th race at the mountain oval, Miller rallied Savannah Sunset out of the pocket for a half-length, 1:57.4 maiden victory, with the $95.40 winner his sixth bomber of the meet in only 74 cards. He already has more longshot victories this year over last, in about half the number of cards.
In July there were seven horses who paid more than $50 at Pocono and Miller had four of them, including two within three races on July 2, which was only Sun Stakes Saturday Championship Night, one of harness racing’s best cards of 2016. And just as he got the first two of the month, Marcus also won with the last two bombers: prior to this $95.40 winner, last Tuesday Miller clicked with Larson Hanover to the tune of $154.20.
One can understand a possible reluctance to wager on Savannah Sunset as the sophomore trotting filly only had one second and one third to her credit in 14 career outings. But area fans had been tipped on July 12 to the magic that Marcus Miller can create when matched with a Neal Ehrhart-trained trotter. That night Sheza Tim Too, who had one win and no seconds in 62 prior career starts, visited Victory Lane to raise her lifetime win ratio from 1.6 percent to 3.2 percent, paying $37.40.
The win was the fourth of the Sunday night card at Pocono for Marcus Miller, who has just cracked the top five in meet victories. None of his quartet of Sunday winners was favored, in fact, they grew in price over the evening: $6.00 in the fourth and $12.40 in the ninth, and then a $33.80 shot in the 13th before combining with Savannah Sunset in the 14th for a $2,445.00 Marcus Miller Late Double, on which a total of $2 was wagered.
The Director of Racing at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Rick Kane, introduced a new “non-winners of 9 races or $90,000 lifetime” class to his conditioned sheet, giving developing horses a bit more time before they are thrown into the deep end against the fast-class sharks, and the contests provided an exciting extra dimension to the racing at the mountain oval on Sunday, joining with the fast-class conditioned trot to form a trio of $20,000 features.
The non-winners of 9 class featured a race on each gait, and first up were the trotters, with the Caviar Crown 4-year-old gelding Wilberforce taking his third win in his last four starts in his 1:54 victory. Eric Carlson hustled Wilberforce to the front then backed off the half to :57.4, speeding up the journey home to a :56.1 clip so that favored Fashion Creditor, sixth at the half, had too much ground to make up although by the finish he got to within 2-1/2 lengths of the winner in second.
Trainer Kris Rickert is the co-owner with Dale Wareham of Wilberforce, who illustrates the objective of the new class nicely: after winning out of non-winners of 7 company, last week the trotter was thrown in the winners-over which went to Homicide Hunter, whose 1:51.1 victory was within a fifth of the divisional record. Although Wilberforce was a creditable fourth, he was not at this point quite ready for those bearcats, with horses like him benefiting from the intermediary transitional step of the new class.
The pacing non-winners of 9 made the same point, with Dreams Beachboy, dropping down after a second last week to Franklin FFA contestant Bushwacker after winning out of non-winners of 7, able to rally out of the pocket for a head win in 1:51.1 over pacesetting chalk Rock ‘N Roll World, whom most would agree was also getting a class drop after finishing third to a couple of horses named Wiggle It Jiggleit and Freaky Feet Pete in the Graduate final.
Dreams Beachboy, a 4-year-old altered son of Somebeachsomewhere who boosted his earnings over the six-figure bar for owners Crawford Farms Racing, marked the second successful collaboration of the evening between driver Eric Goodell and trainer Chris Oakes.
The upper-level conditioned trot was yet another chapter in the long-running Pocono saga known as “Those Battlin’ Nap Brothers,” as this time driver Anthony Napolitano and pacesetting Armor Hanover were able to turn back the challenge of first-over Celebrity Bugatti, driven by Anthony’s brother George, by a head in a 1:53.2 mile.
Trainer Doug Berkeley, also co-owner with Leslie Berkeley, has done a good conditioning job getting the fast but sometimes-fractious trotter to stay on gait, as he posted his third consecutive triumph in Sunday’s event.