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Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen's Association

PHILLY'S FINEST: 4/2/17

3/31/2017

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Your Guide To Handicapping Harrah's Philadelphia.

FIRST CARD OF LIVE RACING SEASON TAKES
TO THE TRACK AT HARRAH'S PHILADELPHIA

WELCOME BACK to HARRAH'S PHILADELPHIA for the first day of live harness racing during the 2017 season! We look forward to presenting you with the best horses and horsemen in harness racing for your enjoyment and handicapping/wagering pleasure. Harrah's will be racing the days of its regular schedule in recent years -- Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; exceptions in April will be THIS WEDNESDAY, April 5 (to help with the early-season horse population) and Easter Sunday, April 16.... Today's $17,500 featured race 3 finds a Dover shipper and a Meadowlands shipper taking on a Yonkers contingent who basically have been racing one level higher than this race.

ANALYSIS OF KEY RACES

5th race: ALL ABOUT RUSTY gets his share of wins, and beat the program choice last time, but what impressed us about the mile was the fact that he was able to come home in 26.2, at the end of a 54.2


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CONNORS'COMMENTS: POCONO 3/28/17

3/31/2017

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TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2017

FIRST RACE – Temperature started at 48o – and went up to 50o near the end of the card! … “Sloppy +1” all night … Slight headwind to start … CAN DO left well, forced a tuck, then yielded for the pocket, stayed tightly-connected, to the Pocono Pike, and right by just past midstretch. MILITARY

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CONNORS'COMMENTS: POCONO 3/26/17

3/29/2017

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SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2017

FIRST RACE – 38 degrees and “fast +0” throughout the card; the evening opens with a mild stretch headwind – which will swirl throughout the night … DASH OF DANGER moved outside raw at the 5/8, worked to the lead by early on the turn and had drawn clear by headstretch, kept to task mildly to


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CHAT SNAP COULD BE TOUGH IN WEISS SERIES AFTER FINE PREP WIN TUESDAY AT POCONO

3/29/2017

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Chat Snap harness horseScreengrab: Kentuckiana Farms
The Western Terror filly Chat Snap, already entered in the first leg of her division of the $750,000 Bobby Weiss Series Sunday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, showed that she should be tough to beat with a victorious prep race five days prior to her first Weiss start, winning a $14,000 contest at The Downs Tuesday in 1:55.2 over a sloppy track.
 
With a well-strung-out field, driver Andrew McCarthy was able to wait in fourth with Chat Snap, and when given her head approaching the ¾, the filly took her cue, motoring right up to gain the lead before the top of the stretch. From there she methodically drew clear of her field, winning by 4¼ lengths.


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CONNORS'COMMENTS: POCONO 3/25/17

3/28/2017

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SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 2017

FIRST RACE – Temperatures held in the mid/low 40s throughout the night … “+0” variant; what water there was in the track that caused it to be rated “good” for races 1-4 gradually worked out because of the atypical stretch tailwind, and the surface was rated “fast” thereafter … ALLBEEF N NOBULL left some, then got a great second-over trip, three-wide to headstretch, strong through the lane. HALL BRO left strongly, forced a tuck, then strung a rival out most of the way to the 3/8, yielded for the pocket, cleared in the Pocono Pike but only after the winner had momentum going for him, finished steadily. AMERICAN RAGE was third-over, couldn’t quite keep with the winner late turn and into the stretch, but then came on with a good gain. RATHER SWELL sat in, went to the path behind the winner but was never clear to the wire. BIG GAME HUNTER left between horses, took the early pocket 3/16, came out raw off the second turn, fought the leader and had an advantage, but not the rail, on the far turn, held well. JOHNNY O gapped at the ¾. MACHTU N, a bit rank behind the gate, was three-wide to the 3/16, then pressed on to command before the 3/8, didn’t get much rest on the lead, gave way in the stretch. SPORTSKEEPER was never a major player.

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MUSCLE DIAMOND AND CAMPBELL RATE HALF, THEN SPRINT HOME TO UPSET MELADY'S MONET IN POCONO $20k TROTTING FEATURE SUNDAY

3/26/2017

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Hall Of Fame Harness Racing Driver John CampbellHall Of Famer John Campbell
Maybe Hall of Fame horseman John Campbell might want to reconsider that July 1 career change he’s talked about.
 
Set to become the president/CEO of the Hambletonian Society on the first of July, Campbell showed he still has plenty of sulky magic left at his command, sending Muscle Diamond right to the front in the $20,000 handicap trotting feature Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, backing off the half, then sprinting home to be a very easy winner over odds-on favorite Melady’s Monet in 1:53.3.
 
Campbell had the winning son of Muscle Hill in high gear early and quickly made the top, forcing tucks while going to the quarter in 27.1. With no challengers looming, Campbell gave Muscle Diamond a huge breather on the front end in quarter two, hitting the half in 57.4, with Melady’s Monet starting up uncovered. The favorite got to within just over a length of Muscle Diamond on the far turn after a 1:25.4 clocking at the ¾, but in the stretch Muscle Diamond sparkled with a 27.4 kicker, winning by 4 1/2 lengths. Melady’s Monet claimed second, a length to the good of the pocketsitter Crazy About Pat.
 
Muscle Diamond would fit any definition of impeccably-bred, a Muscle Hill out of millionaire / world champion / divisional champion Windylane Hanover, and his career earnings of $662,899 have been achieved in but 31 starts – if trainer Brett Bittle can find the key to an extended campaign for the fast trotter, who was second in his Breeders Crown at two and then third at three, you’ll hear much more from him and owners Brett and Dan Bittle and the Charles Kellers, III and IV.
 
The victory was #10,637 of Campbell’s storied career; more importantly, his lifetime earnings are now at $299,366,442, and that number that begins with a “3” looming on the horizon does seem attainable.
 
The biggest purse race of the night for pacers was an $18,000 “nw 7 races or $70,000” contest, which went to the four-year-old gelding Dash Of Danger, who took a new mark of 1:52 for the hot connections of trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, and Marc Reynolds. Matt Kakaley rushed up down the backstretch with the sidewheeler, also with top-shelf breeding (a Western Terror half-brother to the $2M+-winning mare Glowing Report), paced on to a big lead late on the final turn, then held off the bold late rush of Shane Adam, who trailed most of the way, by a half-length.

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POCONO TO RACE SATURDAY-SUNDAY-TUESDAY CARDS THIS WEEK; MELADY'S MONET COMES TO TOWN

3/24/2017

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PictureUSTA/Ken Weingartner
After successfully getting to race on one of the two days planned for the first week of 2017 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono – Tuesday’s inaugural card followed a Saturday cancellation due to snow – the northeast Pennsylvania track will try for three cards of racing in this, its second week of the year, with racing planned for Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday (the bookend action starting at 6:30 p.m., the middle card an hour later).
 
The best race of the weekend appears to be Sunday night’s $20,000 tenth race handicap trot, with the Revenue S gelding Melady’s Monet assigned early 5-2 favoritism, and for good reason – he just may be the best trotter in North America right now. The winner of $1.06M, trained by Kevin McDermott for Melady Enterprises LLC, is undefeated in a pair of 2017 starts, both against top trotters at The Meadowlands, and he has Brett Miller, familiar to area fans and currently The Meadowlands’ leading sulkysitter, coming in to drive.
 
Melady’s Monet even got some luck at the post position draw for the handicap event, even though he’ll be starting from post seven in a nine-horse field: the three highest moneywinners drew for the three outside posts, with Melady’s Monet in the seven-hole thus the “innermost” of the “outermost” horses.
 
Saturday’s top purse event is an $18,000 claiming handicap pace in race 5, with Crafty Master having to overcome the outside post eight after defeating the best horses on the grounds at Rideau Carleton in Ottawa in his last start. The co-features are a pair of $15,500 conditioned events for older performers, with the Amber Buter stable having a top contender in both – the $900,000 winner Zooming in the eighth race trot, and the hot City Hall, coming off two wins and a second in his last three starts, in the tenth race pace.
 
The focus of Tuesday’s racing will likely fall on younger horses prepping for the $700,000 Bobby Weiss Series contests starting up in early April. The four Weiss Series, named after Pocono’s famed trackman who was the main architect of the dark red oval becoming the favorite racing surface of countless top trainers, have been known to be a steppingstone to greatness – such was the case with J L Cruze, who won his 2015 Weiss Championship, then later that year went on to become one of only three trotters to ever beat 1:50 in a race, with a 1:49.4 triumph at The Meadowlands against the best in the sport.

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breeders crown WILL return to pocono in 2018

3/20/2017

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The $6 million Breeders Crown, harness racing’s richest and most prestigious year-end divisional
championship series, returns in 2018 to The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania.

Pocono staged all 12 “Crown” events in 2013, and saw victories posted by eventual Dan Patch
Horse of The Year Bee A Magician, Pacer of the Year Captaintreacherous and the richest
Standardbred in North American history, Foiled Again.

The historic five-eighth mile track, nestled in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains, celebrated its
50th Anniversary in 2015 and was the first track to host all 12 Breeders Crown races in one night
on their inaugural hosting in 2010.

“The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono has been a wonderful host track partner and we are delighted
to see them back in Breeders Crown rotation,” said Tom Charters, president of the Hambletonian
Society which owns and administrates the Breeders Crown series.

“We appreciate the support of the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association and the
management of The Downs at Mohegan Sun. Breeders Crown night has historically been one of the
biggest wagering and attendance nights of the year for host tracks and Pocono has set new
standards every time they host the Crown. We look forward to continuing that tradition,” said
Charters. “The racetrack and casino are enormously popular with the horsemen and owners, and
the economic impact the event brings to the surrounding community has also been an important
factor in this decision.”
Total handle on Breeders Crown elimination programs and final nights in 2013 and 2010 exceeded
$8 million, with more than 17,000 in combined attendance.

“Due to the success we have experienced in the past, we are excited to host the 2018 Breeders
Crown”, said Vice President of Racing Operations, Dale Rapson. “The Hambletonian Society was as
enthusiastic to come back as we are to have them. Of course, these events can not happen
without the ongoing support, participation, and cooperation of the Pennsylvania Harness
Horsemen’s Association.”

The Breeders Crown series has typically crowned champions in every division for trotters and
pacers and been the deciding factor in Horse of the Year honors. A Breeders Crown title is one of
the most coveted honors in harness racing.

The Hambletonian Society is a non-profit organization formed in 1924 to sponsor the race for which
it was named, the Hambletonian Stake. The Society’s mission is to encourage and support the
breeding of Standardbred horses through the development, administration and promotion of
harness racing stakes, early-closing races and other special events. For more information, visit
www.hambletonian.com.
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