from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (Oct. 10) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Batavia Downs, Vernon Downs, Hollywood Dayton Raceway and Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

Scott ‘Rocks’ in pacing feature at Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — Driver George Napolitano Jr. and trainer Chris Oakes combined for a sweep of the pacing features Saturday (Oct. 10) night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with Scott Rocks a pocket rocket in taking the $26,000 pace in 1:50.1 and Luck Be Withyou controlling the pace to report home first in 1:49.1 in a $24,000 event.

Curtis Salonick Photo

Scott Rocks took Saturday’s pacing feature at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in 1:49.4.

Napolitano left hard with Scott Rocks, an altered son of Rocknroll Hanover, forcing a pocket tuck from Lonewolf Currier, then surrendering the front to the brushing Bushwacker past the 27.1 opener. Bushwacker continued on the engine with middle fractions of 54.4 and 1:22.4, and held gamely through the drive, but “George Nap” guided Scott Rocks to the famed “Pocono Pike” passing lane, and wore down the front-stepper by mid-stretch, posting a neck triumph for the ownership of Susan Oakes and Chuck Pompey; Major Uptrend charged hard late to be a close third.

Luck Be Withyou continued to show his affinity for the Pocono red clay surface, having won the 2013 Breeders Crown 2-year-old colt pace and the 2015 Ben Franklin Final against top-level competition. The son of Western Ideal then had a dull patch of form, enabling him to drop down in class, and Saturday he took his third straight win on the comeback trail, moving to the front after Somethinginthewind blew to the quarter in 26, putting up 54.1 and 1:21.4 middle splits, and staying strong with a :27.2 last quarter, winning by 2-1/2 lengths for owner John Craig.

In a $24,000 trot, Ray Hall, who ascended to the top levels during the Weiss Series in the spring of 2014, showed that he might prove a worthy rival to his 2015 “successor,” JL Cruze, ringing up his second win in three starts since being acquired by Team Allard (driver Simon and trainer/brother Rene, also co-owner with Giselle Hebert). The Justice Hall gelding stayed off a wild early duel (25.4, 53.4) between Somebody As and Modest Prince, moved up to a great second-over spot by the 1:23.3 marker, then easily out trotted his rivals home, tallying by 1-1/2 lengths over Doc’s Tebow in 1:52.4.

Pocono now shifts to a 3-night a week live schedule, with the trotters and pacers under the lights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays until the meet’s end on November 21.

— Jerry Connors

Batavia Downs
Sent off at 12-1, the lightly regarded Phil Your Boots made believers out of those doubters as he overcame a huge deficit at the half to win the $9,500 Open pacing feature at Batavia Downs on Saturday night (Oct. 10). Off the wings, Cobble Beach (John Cummings Jr.) and Fireyourguns (Mike Caprio) both left in search of forward positioning. Jokerman (Jim McNeight), who had the pole, let Cobble Beach go while seating Fireyourguns. After all grabbed a spot, the single-file pack tripped the quarter in :28.4 and the half in :56.1. At this point, eventual winner Phil Your Boots (Drew Monti) was sitting last, 10-lengths off the lead behind a drifting and gapped Bakken (Ray Fisher Jr.). Monti got his charge around the lagging horse and quickly caught the field. When Button Fly (Shawn McDonough) started an outer-flow, Phil Your Boots followed second-over as they reached the three-quarters in 1:26.1. At the top of the stretch, Cobble Beach packed it in but Fireyourguns still looked strong. Undaunted, Phil Your Boots tipped three-deep and put on a ferocious charge to just nose-out Fireyourguns in 1:54.2. It was the tenth win of the year for Phil Your Boots ($26.00) including six out of his last eight. And the winner’s share of the purse inflated his 2015 earnings to $43,750 for owner Lou Frascella. Carl Smith trains the winner. Drew Monti scored a driving triple Saturday, winning with Phil Your Boots ($26.00), Rockstar Temper ($3.40) and The Battle Begins ($3.60) while Kevin Cummings, Shawn McDonough and Jim McNeight all registered driving doubles. Racing resumes at Batavia Downs on Monday (Oct. 12) with a special Columbus Day matinee card that gets underway at 1:15 p.m.

Vernon Downs
Fresh off a win over upper-level conditioned company, Robert Orr’s Barbarian ($4.30) accelerated off the far turn en route to a 1:52 victory in Saturday (October 10) evening’s $7,000 pacing feature at Vernon Downs. The 4-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding took no involvement in the early pace, last of the sextet through a :56.1 half mile as second choice Sassy Hanover (John MacDonald) controlled the early terms. On approach to the far turn, Greg Merton angled Barbarian first-over, and the pair steadily advanced through the entire turn. After reaching the three-quarter point in 1:25, Sassy Hanover failed to repel the challenge of Barbarian, who struck the front in the final eighth and subsequently held clear of a late bid from Shock N Rock (Justin Huckabone) by 1-1/4 lengths. Sassy Hanover faded to third after giving way. Barbarian, trained by Edgar “Sparky” Clarke, posted a :26.2 final quarter over fast going to cap his successful first-over bid. Live racing returns to Vernon Downs on Wednesday (October 14) evening, with the first of nine races due off at 6:45 p.m. Eastern time.

Hollywood Dayton Raceway
Top trotter Rehab Mountain and top pacer One Lucky Dragon were repeat winners in their respective Open class races at Hollywood Dayton Raceway on Saturday night (October 10), but a blistering 1:51 divisional track record mile in a $7000 condition pace stole the show. Sports Sinner became the fastest 4-year-old in the two year history of the sport’s newest venue when driver Chris Page sat a pocket trip through fractions of :25.4, :54.4 and 1:23 before unleashing a :27.3 closing panel with the son of Western Ideal to best St Lads Zoom Zoom (Jason Brewer) and Straight Comic (Ken Holliday) by over 6-1/4 lengths in the record performance. Deborah Swartz now trains Sports Sinner, who took his record of 1:50 at The Red Mile six weeks ago, for owner Perkins Racing Stable LLC. The track record was the 20th one lowered in the first 17 nights of racing during Hollywood Dayton’s second season. In his next start Sports Sinner may well have to face One Lucky Dragon, who won his second straight Open over the swift five-eighths mile oval in 1:52.3. Driver Randy Tharps got away fifth with the 6-year-old Dragon Again gelding, then launched a sustained first-over attack just before reaching the quarter pole. After racing side-by-side for almost all of the remaining three-quarters of the mile, One Lucky Dragon finally wore down pace-setting Ardyne Ace (Kayne Kauffman) to win by a half-length. Westport (Dan Noble) rallied for an impressive third place finish. Partners John McGill and Brian Carsey own the winner and entrust the training to Chris McGuire. The track partnered with The Breast Cancer Foundation of Dayton to present a day-long “Join The Fight & Raise Awareness” campaign. Highlight of the activities was the $15,000 Pink Ribbon Open Trot won by Rehab Mountain (Dan Noble), an incredible 8-year-old gelding who has now won 11 races to go with seven place finishes and earned $132,376–all in overnight races in Ohio–in 2015. Trained and driven by the late Brad Hanners until six weeks ago, Travis Redden has now taken over the conditioning duties of the pride of the B6 Racing Stable. In addition to the Pink Ribbon Trot, the day’s activities included a 5K morning run as well as fund-raising raffles and auctions to benefit The Breast Cancer Foundation.