from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (July 5) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Yonkers Raceway, Saratoga Casino and Raceway, Running Aces, Buffalo Raceway, Vernon Downs and Kawartha Downs.

P H Supercam wins Yonkers Open

Yonkers, NY — Odds-on favorite P H Supercam (Jason Bartlett, $2.60) fooled very few Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway’s $44,000 Open Handicap Pace.

Mayra Escamilla photo

P H Supercam was a 1:51.1 winner for driver Jason Bartlett.

Pocketed from a very generous post position No. 3, he sat patiently behind Aracache Hanover (George Brennan). Aracache Hanover found sub-stations of :27, :55.2 and 1:23.1, taking a 1-1/2 length lead into the lane.

P H Supercam, all dressed up this week after a pair of belated eight hole efforts, zipped inside and zipped by. The final margin was three-quarters of a length in 1:51.1, matching a season’s and life-best. Last week’s winner, Pancetta (Jordan Stratton), flew home to snatch second, with Aracache Hanover, Sir Ziggy’s Z Tam (Pat Lachance) and Casimir Jitterbug (Larry Stalbaum) rounding out the payees.

For George Morton Levy Series winner P H Supercam, a 7-year-old Million Dollar Cam gelding owned by Bamond Racing and trained by PJ Fraley, it was his fifth win in 19 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $26.60, with the triple returning $108.

Special Saturday props to Keystone Velocity (Stratton, $2.80), whose 1:50.4, 9-1/4 length flogging of the field in the $20,000 fourth race pace was the fastest local mile of the season. It also matched the venerable former all-track record holder Silver Almahurst’s 1993 (final of Levy) standard for an older pacing horse.

— Frank Drucker

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
For just the second time this season, there was a back-to-back winner in the Saturday night Open Pace at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. Panocchio (No Pan Intended) parlayed the pocket ride to victory last week but on Saturday night, the Jimmy Mattison trainee had to tough it out first over in the $17,000 feature. Gerry Mattison piloted the 4-year-old pacer and sat patiently as the fractions in the Open were brisk. Out after the leader following a first half that went in :56.2, Panocchio fought gamely on the rim before cruising by in the stretch to win in 1:53.1. BJ’s Guy (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) came from a long way back to be second while Island Jet (Stephane Bouchard) earned the show spot for the third consecutive week in the Saturday Open. Panocchio, who moved his 2014 record to seven wins in 11 tries with the score, joined Source Of Pride as the only horses to win the Open Pace in back-to-back weeks in the 2014 campaign. The morning line favorite, Panocchio went off as the public’s third choice in the betting at odds of 3-1.

Running Aces
For the second consecutive week, Lady’s Art captured the Fillies and Mares Open Pace at Running Aces, besting a full field of nine for a $12,000 purse. Reinsman Steve Wiseman, who also trains the 5-year-old Art Major mare, was content to sit in the pocket throughout until tipping to the outside with a sixteenth of a mile left and collaring pacesetting Country Jewel (Nick Roland) by a neck in the final few strides. New Manhattan (Jason Ryan) finished third. The 1:52.2 clocking was just one-fifth of a second slower than her track record setting performance a week earlier. Owned by Kenneth Seastrom and James Kouretas, Lady’s Art now boasts 15 career victories and $113,709 in earnings. That’s Mara (Kim Pluta) was impressive winning a $7,500 conditioned race in 1:53.1 on the undercard. The upset winner, who paid $40.40, was 2-1/2 lengths better than Love Live Laugh (Tim Maier) and Free Girl (Rick Magee). It was the tenth career triumph for the 5-year-old daughter of Lis Mara who is owned by A Piece Of The Action LLC Stable and conditioned by George Reider.

Buffalo Raceway
Best Ears was sent off as the heavy 3-5 favorite in the $10,500 Open Pace at Buffalo Raceway Saturday night and he proved he was the best with a neck decision over Western Alumni in 1:54.2. Scoring from the rail, Best Ears (Shawn McDonough) played ‘give-and-go’ with Western Alumni and set the fractions with times of :29, :58.1 and 1:26.4. In the stretch, it boiled down to a two-horse race with Best Ears ($3.30) begging for the finish line late and he was able to hold off the late drive of the pocket-sitting Western Alumni (Jim McNeight) by a diminishing neck. What The Sheik (David McNeight III) took the show position. Best Ears (Shark Gesture-Extreme Dream) is a 5-year-old gelding who is owned by Joseph Amico and is trained by Frank Mastrodonato. It was the fifth win in 24 starts this season for Best Ears and pushed his 2014 earnings to $32,992 and $216,397 lifetime.

Vernon Downs
A Penny Earned (Conway Hall-Penny Dream) scored a win in the $10,000 featured trot on Saturday night at Vernon Downs. However, the gelding certainly did not have an easy time of it. A Penny Earned (Chris Lems) sat just behind the leader, Mr Web Page (Roman Lopez), through the opening quarter of :28.3. Just past the quarter-mile mark, A Penny Earned rolled right past that leader and assumed control himself. He continued to lead through a half-mile in :58.2 and three-quarters in 1:27. Once the field made the stretch, there were plenty of challengers for A Penny Earned to hold off. My Revenuer (Truman Gale) had the benefit of a first-over trip up the backstretch, but was never able to pass the leader in the stretch and had to settle for second. War Hero (Howard Okusko Jr.) followed the cover of My Revenuer to get up into contention, but the best he could do was a third place finish. A Penny Earned finished the mile in 1:55.1 for the win. He is owned by Alfred Ross, George Ducharme, Natalia Oliva and Paul Fontaine. George Ducharme is also the trainer of A Penny Earned, who earned his third win of the season at Vernon Downs. The complete order of finish was A Penny Earned, My Revenuer, War Hero, Mr Web Page, Naughty Not Nice, Pollux Blue Chip, and Evil Urges.

Kawartha Downs
Another fantastic crowd was on hand at Kawartha Downs to take in the Fraserville oval’s third live card of harness racing this year on a beautiful summer night. John MacMillan filled in for regular announcer Evan Loucks but that wasn’t the only role he played. MacMillan also trains and co-owns Windsun Rebel, a 3-year-old Mach Three gelding who was an impressive winner in the evening’s opening race. It was the talented pacer’s fifth straight victory and sixth in his last seven starts. Tony Kerwood was at the lines behind the winner who was home first in 1:56.1. Windsun Rebel is the first foal of the Artsplace mare Windsun Celestial, a half-sister to $2.5 million winner Four Starzzz Shark.