from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The $14,000 featured pace for fast-class distaffs was race 10 on the Tuesday night (Sept. 26) card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and by the time of the end of the race, if your last name wasn’t Napolitano or Allard, it might have been a good night — perhaps even weekend — to take off from the racetrack at The Downs.

George Napolitano Jr., the all-time leading driver here, posted his fourth win of the night with the Dragon Again mare UF Dragon’s Queen, going wire-to-wire while holding off the late charge of the appropriately-named Healthy Gain by a head in 1:51.4 for trainer Mark Ford and the ownership of Up Front Racing LLC. It was George’s 12th win of the four-card week at the mountain oval, and in the middle he posted six victories at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday.

A race earlier, George’s brother Anthony was victorious with Love Me Some Rusty by a nose in 1:53, holding off 54-1 shot Art Frenzy by the barest of margins. On Saturday, Anthony had provided some longshot fireworks of his own, giving Rock On The Hill a masterful weaving drive through the lane to post the highest win price of the season at The Downs, $188.20.

As for the Allards, driver Simon and trainer Rene, they had four and three victories, respectively, through the Tuesday feature race, following up on their team four-bagger the previous night. Simon had 11 visits to Victory Lane in the four-day period at press time, reclaiming second in the driving standings behind perennial leader “George Nap.”