By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Bar Hopping sophomore trotting ridgling Top Me Off became the only male to come through the Bobby Weiss Series preliminaries undefeated, as he equaled his mark of 1:54.2 with a hard-earned victory in his division of that group’s $17,500 third and final prelims during the Sunday twilight card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Todd Schadel guided Top Me Off, last year’s PA Fair champion and undefeated in four starts this year, to the lead before the :27.3 first fraction, with Tart Tongue yielding then stalking him through middle fractions of :57 and 1:25. Tart Tongue took his shot in the Pocono Pike but came up a half-length short, with Black Tie Bash closing well to get nosed out of second behind the winner, who is also trained by Todd and is co-owned by him, his wife Christine, and Rick and Regina Beinhauer.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The heralded One Eight Hundred, so impressive in his 1:50.2 – 26.1 first round win in the Bobby Weiss Series for three-year-old pacing males at The Downs at Mohegan Sun, took last week off but showed Saturday he had lost nothing by winning his section of the $17,500 third and final Weiss prelims. He covered his mile in 1:52 over a “good +1” oval with the temperature just below 50o.
 
Josert Fonseca sent the colt to the top before a :26.2 quarter, then backed off fractions to :55.4 and 1:24.4. Unlike in his first win here, which was his first seasonal start and where he looked to be given a quarter-mile finishing test, One Eight Hundred was under his own power through the wire, yet still came home in :27.1, a second faster than did the other two Weiss divisions on a day where the next fastest kicker was :27.4. The Somebeachsomewhere colt still looks like the colt to beat in next Saturday’s $40,000 Championship for trainer Nancy Takter, also co-owner with Brixton Medical Inc.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Itzalldowntoluck N and Extrilla Hanover were victorious in the $11,200 divisions of the featured pace on Friday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
Itzalldowntoluck N made every pole a winning one in the division of the headliner for males, having little trouble in mastering his foes in the 1:53.2 mile. The five-year-old son of Auckland Reactor N, driven by Simon Allard for Philly’s top trainer Kelvin “Red” Harrison and Curtin ANZ Stables, was making only his eighth lifetime start, but half of them have wound up in victory.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Two of the three winners in the featured trots at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday overcame the outside post seven – a starting spot that had been 1-for-60 in the first six days of 2021 racing here – to record impressive victories.
 
Top purse event was a $12,800 contest for developing horses, and the Lionhunter gelding Banzai As reduced his record to 1:56 in defeating pacesetting favorite Rose Run Vincent by a length. Tim Tetrick had to go the tough tuck-then-first-over trip with the Annette Lorentzon trainee, but Banzai As showed himself capable of going on despite the hard journey for the ownership of ACL Stuteri AB.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Over a Harrah’s Philadelphia oval not friendly to closing horses, the Sweet Lou sophomore colt Hellabalou made a startling 2021 debut on Wednesday, winning an $11,200 co-featured pace in 1:51.1, covering his own last half officially in :53.
 
Hellabalou was third-over as pacesetter Step On The Gas attempted to take his third in his last four, but when driver Andrew McCarthy sent him wide early on the backstretch to circle dull cover, he responded with a sizzling :25.4 individual third quarter, kept going around the first-over to get in a challenging position on the far turn, and then paced away to a 1¾ length victory over a very good Step On The Gas. 

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – No sophomore trotting filly came through their first two Bobby Weiss Series preliminaries with a pair of wins – Trip Sevens, the only first-round winner entered Tuesday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, looked en route to victory but made a break before midstretch, enabling the Credit Winner filly Etra De Vie to take a new mark of 1:56.4.
 
Etra De Vie was put in the early pocket by driver Matt Kakaley behind the heavily-favored Trip Sevens, then tipped out for the stretch drive. The leader still had the better part of two lengths when she lost her composure, letting Etra De Vie get by and hold off Kayla’s Playmate by a length for trainer Jenny Melander and Belmar Racing & Breeding LLC.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – It’s not very often, if not unprecedented, that a track’s “Late Double” in Tuesday morning qualifiers is won by a pair of Breeders Crown champions, much less Crown champion stablemates, but such was the case here with four-year-olds Sandbetweenmytoes and Next Level Stuff for trainer Jim Campbell at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
The Somebeachsomewhere - Galleria gelding Sandbetweenmytoes, last seen at the pari-mutuels beating Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger while paying $409.80 to win in their Crown event at Harrah's Hoosier Park, followed up on a 1:55.3 qualifying triumph here last week with a 1:53 victory despite a “good +1” surface Tuesday. Driver Scott Zeron was a three-time winner on the morning; Campbell, who sent out four winners during the a.m. session, looks to have this one ready for facing the older stock for Fashion Farms LLC.
 
The Sebastian K S distaff Next Level Stuff stepped her own last half in :57.2 in a 1:55.4 win for Campbell, Zeron, and the Runthetable Stables in her initial racetrack appearance since her Indiana victory. Her dam Nantab got a production double credit as the sophomore Creatine gelding Take All Comers, a 1:52.3 winner at two, came home in :56.4 to draw away in a 2:00.3 mile for Campbell, Runthetable, and driver David Miller.
 
Another sophomore worth noting was the Somebeachsomewhere – Swinging Beauty gelding Whichwaytothebeach, who stepped his own last half in :55.4 in a 1:55.4 triumph. Andrew McCarthy guided the Brett Pelling trainee, who won in 1:51.1f at two, for owners Alan Johnston and John Craig.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – A pair of Always B Miki sophomore pacing fillies, So Irresistible and Incaseyoudidntknow, came right back to run their Bobby Weiss Series records to 2-for-2 with tallies in their respective $17,500 second preliminary legs Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
So Irresistible came with an uncovered sweep on the second turn to grab command early in  the backstretch, pacing out her own back half in :54.3 to stop the timer at 1:53, a length ahead of 35-1 shot Beach Crazy. Scott Zeron was again behind the Bruce Saunders trainee as she remained perfect in three seasonal starts for owners Charles and Julie Nash.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The impressive Top Me Off is now 2-for-2 in the Bobby Weiss Trotting Series for sophomore trotting males after winning in 1:57.1 over a “good” track Sunday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with Hoolie N Hector joining him with two Weiss wins after a 1:57.4 clocking in his division, all four of which carried a purse of $17,500.
 
The Bar Hopping ridgling Top Me Off showed his maneuverability in this week’s Weiss event, for after racing in front in his previous two 2021 starts trainer/driver Todd Schadel raced him in the pocket behind his fair circuit foe of last year, Killer Instinct. Come the stretch, though, Schadel right-lined his three-year-old, and he went right on by for his ninth win in 19 lifetime starts. Todd’s wife Christine owns the swift youngster along with Rick and Regina Beinhauer.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Straight Talk and Mad Man Hill are now 2-for-2 in the Bobby Weiss Series for sophomore pacing males after four $17,500 second round prelims were held Saturday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Straight Talk was one of two Sweet Lou-sired winners trained by Ron Burke to take Weiss divisions; the colt left the field behind with a :26.4 third split under the direction of Matt Kakaley en route to taking a lifetime best of 1:51.4 for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, William Switala and James Martin. The other Burke Brigade member to win was the gelding Emblaze Hanover, who bounced back from a break in the first leg to also reduce his mark to 1:51.4 for driver Joe Bongiorno and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC, Dr. Bridgette Jablonsky, Jason Melillo, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby.