from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The runaway leading driver at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, George Napolitano Jr., pursuing an unprecedented ninth local sulkysitting championship, started the new month of August just as he left the previous one, with six wins at Pocono Saturday, including a sweep of the Pick-4 and five straight victories, including an impressive 1:50.1 triumph with Ideal Matters in the evening’s $24,000 feature pace.

Curtis Salonick photo

Ideal Matters was a narrow winner in the Saturday feature.

Napolitano left with the altered son of Western Ideal from post seven, but others to his left had the same line of thinking, and he tucked Ideal Matters into fourth as Mustang Art used track geometry from the innermost starting spot and was in charge at the :26 quarter.

“George Nap” had started to move his pacer out and up as Mustang Art got to the half in :54.2, and Ideal Matters went up raw to challenge the pacesetter to the 1:22.2 three-quarters and through the turn.

The two battled on through the stretch, with the winner finally putting away the pacesetter past mid-stretch, then tenaciously withstanding Speed Again, who had enjoyed the second-over trip behind him, and his late rally by a neck, with Mustang Art just another half-length back in third.

Owner Gilbert Garcia-Herrera also trains the winner, who was his third of the night, all with George driving, including the final two of the Napolitano Pick-4 sweep in races seven-ten, which returned a generous $164.60 for combining three favorites with an $11.80 shot.

Finishing Lines: Some 37 minutes after 28 entrants from his stable completed a $320,000-earning, seven-win day at The Meadows during the Adios card, the “other hot horseman in Pennsylvania,” Ron Burke, saw his stable add an eighth Keystone State win 298 miles to the northeast, as Joe Pavia Jr. guided House Of Cash to victory in the first at Pocono while returning an un-Burke-like $51.00 to win.. Fans looking forward to the $2 million-plus Super Saturday Stakes card at Pocono in three weeks are closer to that excitement than they may know — the big stakes night is a part of Pocono’s 50th anniversary year of racing, and the card that night will have a first post time of 5:30 p.m., with a fireworks show providing the pyrotechnics immediately after the card of superstars.