By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​WILKES-BARRE PA – Tyler Buter guided five winners during the Wednesday morning qualifying session at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, while Mark MacDonald, just a week into his comeback since his injuries last summer, showed he is back in form with three victories.
 
MacDonald handled the fastest winner of the session, the Mach Three gelding Highrthananeagle A. The six-year-old had not raced since November and was making his U.S. debut, but the Rob Harmon trainee made two moves, including going first-over, to win in 1:55.1 for the ownership of Harmon Racing Stable LLC, Lightning 5 Racing Stable, and Joel Kahan.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​WILKES-BARRE PA – Driver Anthony Napolitano, who won one of the two divisions of the first prelim of the Game Of Claim Series for pacing mares on Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, went himself one better by sweeping the two $15,000 divisions of the first prelim of the Game Of Claims Series for $15,000-base trotters Monday.
 
Tactically “Anthony Nap” was well-diversified. In the first division, he sent Manwithamission, a gelded son of Manofmanymissions (a 2010 Breeders Crown winner here) to control the pace with two moves, then stepped home in 1:56.3 for trainer Steve Salerno and owner Jack Piatt III – who promptly lost the horse to a claim in the chess game that is the Game Of Claims prelims. For Manwithamission, it was his fifth winning effort in seven 2020 starts.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​WILKES-BARRE PA – The male pacers had their Game Of Claims Series opportunities early in the meet at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono; starting this week, pacing mares and trotters will start their series, with the sidewheeling distaffs kicking off on Sunday.
 
The Napolitano brothers drove the winners of the two $10,000 divisions of the first prelim, for $10,000 base-price horses, with Anthony guiding the Hypnotic Blue Chip mare Melanie’s Filly right to the top en route to a 1:54 victory. But if trainer Daniel Maier and owner Antonia Storer want to see this mare racing for them in the $20,000 Championship event in three weeks, they’ll have to pony up some money – as the winner was haltered for the $12,000 price, mares getting their standard 20% price allowance. (And the base price goes up a bit each week in the Game Of Claims prelims.)

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Driver Jim Morrill Jr., a three-time North American UDR champion, continued his red-hot sulky ways during the early portion of the 2020 meeting at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, picking up five victories on the twelve-race Saturday night card.​

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​WILKES-BARRE PA – Some high-powered free-for-all and invitational pacers were very impressive winning Wednesday morning qualifiers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Fastest of all was the veteran Riverboat King gelding Theartofconfusion A, who paced a 1:49.3 all-age track record mile at Yonkers last year. On Wednesday Theartofconfusion A motored home in :56 flat despite being first-up to complete a 1:55.1 victory for driver Eric Carlson and trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera, auguring well as he sets out to post a third consecutive $200G+-winning season for co-owners Garcia-Herrera and Barbara and Donald Arnstine.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – A pair of three-year-olds making successful career debuts were the highlight performers of the first Monday twilight card of 2020 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
In a 1-2 finish for six-figure yearlings, Rouser Hanover, a Captaintreacherous colt out of the million dollar-winning mare Romantic Moment, overcame broken equipment to tally by three lengths in 1:54.4, last half :56 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Tony Alagna, and the partnership of Brittany Farms LLC, Big Als Stables, Brad Grant, and Riverview Leblanc Vj Stable. Finishing second was Lyons Friends, a Western Ideal gelding out of the Hall of Famer Artistic Vision, the dam of Clear Vision and Rock N Roll Hanover.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Two horses who had been in very sharp form during the preliminaries in their respective Game Of Claims series – Charger Blue Chip and Always B Magic – continued their winning ways right to the throne as the winner of their Championships, with the former taking his $20,000 event for $10,000 base-priced horses and the latter victorious for the $15,000 bounty offered for $7500-based priced pacers.
 
Considering he had two wins and a third in his only three seasonal starts, all in the GOC Series, the Rocknroll Hanover gelding Charger Blue Chip was overlooked by the bettors at 9-1, probably because of his difficult outside post nine. But driver Jim Marohn Jr. hustled the quick veteran to command, yielded but was on the retake before the second turn, and from there kept favored Grandpa Don at bay by an easy 2¼ lengths in 1:54.1. Claimed for $10,000 in the first leg of the series, Charger Blue Chip has already earned $16,200 in just three starts for trainer Marc Mosher and owners Edward and James Hall Jr.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The team behind the Captaintreacherous ridgling Trente Deo – trainer Bill Adamczyk, owner William Emmons, and driver Jim Morrill Jr. – showed just the right amount of patience with the four-year-old pacer, and they were rewarded by earning the throne after winning the $50,000 Championship of their Game Of Claims Series on Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Owner Emmons saw the pacer won his first start in the series, then took him out of his second Game Of Claims start, paying $33,000 (with the 4YO allowance, the base price slightly elevated through all the GOC prelims), which he also won. Emmons and Adamczyk, knowing the horse had enough points to make the final already, kept him out of the third leg, avoiding losing him to a claim, and their foresight paid off after Morrill gave the winner a second-over trip in the final, making a strong far turn move with him that carried him to a 1:52.3 victory on a northeast Pennsylvania night where the mercury stayed in the mid- to low-20s.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The driving brothers Anthony and George Napolitano Jr. certainly held the hot hands during Wednesday morning’s qualifying session at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and each teamed well with a specific trainer – Anthony guided four Jose Godinez trainees to victory, with four horses conditioned by Gilbert Garcia-Herrera brought home first by George.
 
Two of the “ANap”-Godinez horses took the primary spotlight, as they defeated free-for-all horses Western Ideal and Springsteen, both members of Team Allard. Western Ideal, the 2019 Levy Final winner and a winner in morning action here last week, had to settle for second, 3¾ lengths behind the two-moving Havefaithinme N, who tripped the timer in a solid 1:52, last half :55, for the ownership of Blindswitch Racing Stable, Gary Axelrod, Good Friends Racing Stable, and Santo Farina. And if the nine-year-old Havefaithinme N’s name rings a certain bell, that’s because it should – the altered son of Bettor’s Delight is a career winner of $1.3 million, and in 2016 he paced what was at the time the fastest mile in Australasian harness history, 1:47 5/10, in winning the Miracle Mile over the Menangle Park 7/8-mile oval.