by harness racing publicists across North America

Saturday night’s (Nov. 19) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Meadows, Saratoga, Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway, Batavia Downs and Pocono Downs.

Latest Desire wins third straight in Meadows $20,000 pace

Washington, PA — Latest Desire made it three straight wins Saturday (Nov. 19) at The Meadows when he pulled the pocket in the stretch, overpowered the leader and captured the $20,000 Preferred Handicap Pace.

Chris Gooden photo

Latest Desire captures third consecutive victory at The Meadows on Saturday in that facility’s featured event.

Latest Desire was jumping up two classes to the Preferred, so the pocket trip Dan Rawlings gave him was a big help. The 6-year-old Real Desire-Latest Design gelding blew by Shooter’s Dream and held off Kingofthejungle, who was brushing through the Lightning Lane, by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:51.3 on a “good” surface. Shooter’s Dream saved show.

Dirk Simpson trains Latest Desire, who now boasts $341,186 in career earnings, for Steven Newcom and Larry Taylor. It was one of three wins for Rawlings on the 13-race card.

— by Evan Pattak

Saratoga

Bet You (Bettor’s Delight) went back-to-back in the Saturday (Nov. 19)( eature as the young pacer came from well off the pace to prevail in the $16,000 Open Pace. After winning his first local Open last week, the Heidi Rohr-trained Bet You got away fifth in the six-horse feature and as the fractions were hot on the lead, the rejuvenated pacer sat patiently before making his move in the final quarter-mile. Bet You emerged from a scramble in the stretch with a victory in 1:52.3. Border Control A (Jim Devaux) came from last to finish second while Lettucerockthem A (Billy Dobson) earned the show spot. The 4-year old Bet You hadn’t factored in his first three tries in the local Open but has now rattled off consecutive victories to bring his seasonal win total to ten. Bet You, who was driven to the score in the feature by Stephane Bouchard, paid $13.00 to win and led an exacta and triple that returned $84 and $528, respectively. Bet You is owned by Tom Dillon. Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 20) at Saratoga with a first post time of 12:15 p.m.

Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway

Martini Hanover survived a grueling first-over journey in the $15,000 Open Pace at Hollywood Dayton Raceway on Saturday (Nov. 19) to win his first local feature race over Fancy Creek Elusiv (Eric Goodell) and Secret Threat (Kayne Kauffman) in 1:52.2. Amazingly, especially in view of his remarkable consistency, the winner was being driven by his eighth different driver in his last eight starts. Tyler Smith was the sulky-sitter on this occasion and elected to pull off the pylons and move up to challenge pacesetting Fancy Creek Elusiv three-quarters of a mile into the race. Progressing inches at a time, Martini Hanover crept closer and closer for over a half a mile before finally imposing his will midway down the stretch. The 6-year-old son of Dragon Again, owned by Robert Mondillo and trained by Jeff Hollis, won for the sixth time in 2016 and increased his seasonal bounty to $59,606. He is closing in on a half-million dollar career overall. Martini Hanover was dispatched at odds of 5-1 and paid $13.20 to win. Combined with Fancy Creek Elusiv, the exacta kicked back a healthy $146.40.at

Batavia Downs

Old man winter reared his ugly head on Saturday night (Nov. 19) as high winds and driving rain greeted the night’s competitors. However, the extremely sloppy conditions couldn’t dissuade Thunderbolt Jaxon from his best effort as he splashed to a gate to wire victory in the $10,500 Open Pace at Batavia Downs. Thunderbolt Jaxon (Jim Morrill Jr.) left and took the front by the quarter as the rest of the field ducked for cover.The leader and a close following Spender Hanover (Drew Monti) led pedestrian fractions of :29.2 and :59.1 as an outer flow started to chase. Shady City (Larry Stalbaum), who had been parked out from the start and Knocking Around (Dave McNeight III) constituted that bid but neither could sustain up the backside. Around the last turn, it was Thunderbolt Jaxon who could sense the win as he strode out and paced away from Spender Hanover down the lane and crossed the wire well in hand in 1:57.2. It was the first Open class win for Thunderbolt Jaxon ($5.60) at Batavia Downs since being claimed on October 10, and his eighth overall win of the year. He has now earned $43,846 in 2016. The 4-year-old gelded son of Mach Three is owned by Mike Torcello and is trained by Gerry Sarama. Since Larry Stalbaum started racing regularly at Batavia Downs, he’s been winning races at a hurried pace. That trend continued Saturday as he scored a grand slam on the card. And the winning horses gave Kim Asher the training grand slam as well. The two teamed up in the winner’s circle with Story Book ($5.30), Itsonlyrocknroll A ($2.50), Steuben Patriot ($31.20) and Box Car Johnnie ($3.50). Jim Morrill Jr. had another three-win night to remain the Downs leading dash driver, now with 112 wins. Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Wednesday (Nov. 23) with post time at 6:15 p.m.
Please note that a double draw will take place on Tuesday (Nov. 22) for race cards to be held on Friday (Nov. 25) and Saturday (Nov. 26). The entry box will close at the normal time of 9:00 a.m. For more information please visit the horsemen’s link at www.bataviadownsgaming.com.

Pocono Downs

In the last five Saturdays at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, the $18,000 claiming Handicap Pace for horses valued at $25,000 to $30,000 has been taken by four different horses: Terror Time A, Rockin Rambaran, double winner Freeneasy Hanover, and this week Pappy’s Pal. The amazing thing about this high class array of high tagged horses? They have all been trained by Chris Oakes and driven by George Napolitano Jr. Last week trainer Oakes and owner Hunter Oakes claimed Pappy’s Pal for $25,000, probably knowing that their Freeneasy Hanover was likely to be plucked out of the same race for the same price. For this week’s matchup, Pappy’s Pal went from post six to post three, while Freeneasy Hanover went from post three to post seven, and this positional change, along with the hot hands of Oakes/Napolitano, probably caused the crowd to make Pappy’s Pal Saturday’s favorite. Pappy’s Pal, a Cam’s Card Shark gelding, took advantage of his inside positioning, forcing a late first turn tuck, then stinging Freeneasy Hanover (this week guided by George’s brother Anthony) past a :26 quarter, which was wind-aided, before surrendering the lead. Pappy’s Pal and “GNap” sat contentedly behind the leader through middle splits of 54.4 and 1:22.3, then came out headstretch and paced through the strong wind to take the lead 100 feet out and win by a neck over “Freeneasy” in 1:52. ABC Muscles Boy also used pocket rocket tactics to win the evening’s featured Trot, a $15,500 conditioned event, in 1:53.3. Simon Allard rallied the ABC Garland gelding to take a 1-1/4-length decision over fast closing Fashion Creditor for trainer/brother Rene and the ownership combine of Allard Racing Inc. and Earl Hill Jr. By the time the $20,000 conditioned pacing feature rolled around, the weather had really deteriorated, but the 10-year-old Western Hanover gelding Clear Vision didn’t earn $2,549,697 in his 197 career starts by insisting on perfect conditions. He just wanted a pocket trip, which seemed to be the key to winning Pocono features on Saturday. From there, Clear Vision was able to get home first ahead of Theartofconfusion A by half a length for driver Anthony Napolitano, trainer Ron Burke, and the ownership of Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, The Panhellenic Stable Corporation, and James Koran.