By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​WILKES-BARRE PA – The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono was forced to cancel its first Monday afternoon card of the year after a snowstorm suddenly grew bigger, and the program was abandoned for the sake of the safety of horsemen and horses.
 
Monday morning did see the draw for the card for this Saturday (February 27), which features the third and final preliminary rounds of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for $25,000- and $15,000-base price horses. The top pointwinners in the three preliminaries – and whoever owns and trains the horses after a whirlwind of claiming activity that has already seen 97 horses change hands the last two weekends – will go for $50,000 and $30,000 series finals, respectively, on March 6. In the progressively-priced pacing prelims, this week the higher class will have a $30,000 base tag, and the lower a $20,000; purses remain at $25,000 and $15,000 respectively.
 
Of the eleven horses so far who have won at the $25,000 level and are entered Saturday (including the level’s only double winner, Glengarry Knight N), only three will be starting for the barn for which they won. Among the $15,000 set, only two horses will be coming back for the stable for which they triumphed (the double winner at this level, Fernado, like Glengarry Knight N, starts for new connections).

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​WILKES-BARRE PA – George Napolitano Jr. drove three of the four winners in $10,000 second preliminary round action of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for $10,000-base price horses on the Sunday twilight card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. However, he’s not assured of a drive next week behind any of them – because all three of them were claimed here, as they were last week.
 
The base claiming price went up to $12,500 for this prelim of the progressively-priced pace, but slips were in for the two repeaters. The faster of the two double winners was the Always A Virgin gelding Sweet Talkin Satin, home strongly in 1:53 with the temperature below freezing for one-week trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera and owner Gilbert Garcia-Owen. That last-named duo also lost another new charge of a week, the Bettor’s Delight gelding Love The Action, who followed up a second last time with a victory in this week’s fastest time among all the Sunday claimers, 1:52.1 – a new lifetime mark by almost four seconds.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Game Of Claims Pacing Series barreled right along at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday afternoon, with the second preliminary round for $25,000- and $15,000-base-priced horses yielding only two repeat winners, one at each level, but seeing 24 more horses change hands to the tune of $538,875.
 
The repeat winner at the higher level, which here went for a $27,500 base tag in the progressively-priced prelims, was the Changeover gelding Glengarry Knight N, who took one of the seven $25,000 cuts for his group in 1:54.2 for driver Simon Allard. Trainer Eric Ell and owners Ken Wood, Toby Rekoon, Bill Dittmar Jr., and Steve Iaquinta had retained their pacer after the first prelim, but they lost him to a claim here after the front-end triumph.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Game Of Claims Pacing Series will again be featured this racing week at The Downs at Mohegan Sun, with 58 of the amazing 60 horses claimed during opening weekend (for $1,001,500) returning for second preliminary round action for their new connections.
 
There is a slight “bump-up” in claiming price each prelim week of the Game Of Claims, so this Saturday afternoon seven $25,000 divisions will feature horses with a baseline tag of $27,500. Only the thirteenth race, the last prelim at this level, features a matchup of two winners from opening week – one who was not claimed, I Get That, who paid $83.20 in winning for trainer Mark Akins and draws post four here; and one who was taken, American Ideal, who will begin from post six for trainer Daniel Renaud.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Game Of Claims Pacing Series’ first preliminary round was again featured during the Sunday twilight program at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, on this card featuring horses with base tags of $7500 and $10,000 in their respective competitions.
 
Once again, the claiming box was the subject of much attention, with 19 more horses changing hands on Sunday. This raised the total for the Saturday-Sunday cards to 60 horses moving to new homes, with the final amount paid out for competitive horses in the lucrative series rising to $1,001,500 during the two days.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​WILKES-BARRE PA – The 2021 racing season got underway on Saturday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and while the temperature hovered in the low- to mid-20s, the action was hot on the racetrack, at the claiming box – and if your horse was driven by Matt Kakaley.
 
Featured during the curtainraiser were the first preliminary legs of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for two divisions: horses with a $25,000 base tag and horses based at $15,000. The claiming prices rise a little in the next two preliminaries – which may be part explanation for the incredible total of 41 claims during the card. $825,000 worth of horseflesh went home to a new barn after the races as hopefully the right horse for their purchasers to chase after their $50,000 and $30,000 Championships respectively on March 6.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – An extra card has been added to the February racing schedule at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. The trotters and pacers will be racing over the 5/8-mile oval on Monday, February 22, with first post time 12:30 p.m.
 
This card will be drawn on Wednesday, February 17, with the box closing at the usual 9 a.m. A condition sheet for this day’s races will be available shortly.
 
Pocono will open its 2021 season this weekend, with a Saturday card at 12:30 p.m. and a Sunday program starting at 5 p.m.
 
FINISHING LINES – The 10-year-old Somewhere Fancy posted the fastest qualifying time on a “24-2” weather day for Pocono qualifiers Thursday, going wire-to-wire and holding off the big late move (56.2-27.4) of Clouseau Hanover in 1:56.3 by a half length. … Trainer/driver Chris Carrubba Jr. made his first-ever appearance at Pocono a winning one, taking  a qualifier with Pet Sur-roc on the engine in 1:57.1.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES BARRE PA – The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono will be looking for more cooperation from the weather this weekend after losing its opening day card to the aftermath of a snowstorm last Saturday. This weekend the northeast Pennsylvania track is planning to race on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m., with 14 races on each program.
 
The weekend features will be the opening preliminary rounds of the popular Game Of Claims Pacing Series, where four levels of competitively-priced opponents contest three prelim legs trying to earn their way into a rich Championship on the weekend of March 3-4. On the Saturday card, there will be seven $25,000 divisions of the series for $25,000 base-price claimers and four $15,000 cuts of competition for $15,000-tagged horses. Sunday will see the first prelims for $7500- and $10,000-priced horses.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The brutal early-week snowstorm that attacked much of the country hit very hard in the Pocono Mountains / Wilkes Barre-Scranton area, dumping two feet of snow or more in some areas, and forcing The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono to cancel its first planned card of 2021, which was to go on Saturday at 12:30 p.m..
 
The racetrack and its environs could not be sufficiently cleared, and the track reworked, to ensure the safety of the horses and people involved, forcing the cancellation.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono opens its 2021 racing season this Saturday afternoon. Post time for the 55th year of competition at the northeast Pennsylvania oval is 12:30.
 
The headliner on the inaugural card is a $14,000 fast-class pace slotted for race ten on the 14-race card. The 5-2 morning line favorite is the Rocknroll Hanover gelding Redbank Blaze A, who has been closing very strongly while competing at Yonkers for trainer Jose Godinez and the Godinez Racing Stable LLC. The Down Under import, who starts from post one, will have the sulky services of George Napolitano Jr., who will be bidding for his tenth consecutive victory crown among Pocono drivers, and who is listed for action in 12 of 14 races.