Brian Brown must feel pretty good right now.
Imagine you’re the trainer of one of the favorites for the Little Brown Jug, the Triple Crown race held in your home town of Delaware OH, and you’ve got a colt who has a string of impressive stakes successes.
Brian Brown must feel pretty good right now.
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Growing our sport means inspiring the youth of today to become the stars of tomorrow. Perhaps no other nonprofit makes a bigger impact in that arena than the Harness Horse Youth Foundation. Each year, the staff and volunteers travel from racetrack to racetrack hosting programs ranging from one to five days where kids who have demonstrated an interest in racing get to experience virtually every aspect of the sport. But the ripple effect is even more substantial because the media loves reporting on it—and this year, the PHHA-sponsored program at Pocono even made front page headlines. It's the kind of publicity that's simply priceless.
Freakonomics won her second straight race in 1:51.2 when she equaled the mark she set here on June 20, taking the fastest of four $30,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars three-year-old filly pace Monday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Tell Us More leads all North American harness horses in 2017 victories after he won his 13th race of the campaign Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, taking one of two $18,000 claiming pace features in 1:50.4.
In this era of specializing catch-drivers, the “trainer/driver” title is still proudly held by a few horsemen, mostly horsemen “past the half” and usually with those focusing on trotters.
Another thing these “old-time horsemen” also possess is an ability to adjust strategy in midcourse, and one of the best trainer/drivers, Åke Svanstedt, dropped two of his charges out of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes class to the Stallion Series and then won divisions of the second leg of StS action Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. There were no repeat winners in the second preliminary leg of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action for three-year-old trotting colts Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but three “new shooters” thrust themselves into the upper reaches of the divisional rankings with impressive successes.
Sunny skies and mild temperatures greeted fans at The Downs at Mohegan Sun for Preakness Day—which the racetrack turned into a weekend long patio with live music, live racing, and a special appearance by NFL legend Joe Montana.
Favored Ooh Rah was moved to the lead at the quarter by driver George Napolitano Jr. and went on to a fairly easy victory in the $30,000 Championship of the Bobby Weiss Series for trotting males Tuesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
In a race where the field of eight had collectively earned over $8 million, and five “Goliaths” had bankrolled over a million dollars each, it was the “Down Under David,” Barimah A, with less than $200,000 on his card, coming off of fireball fractions to take the $50,000 Van Rose Memorial Pace at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday, the evening feature on a doubleheader Kentucky Derby Day of racing.
The Bettor’s Delight gelding Barimah A, who last week lost a three-race winning streak when he drew an outside post, saw his pill shake turn upside-down this week – from “9” to “6” – and took advantage of the more favorable starting slot to regain his winning ways, posting a 1:50 victory in the $20,000 featured pace Saturday at The Downs at Mohegan Pocono.
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