By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – A twelve-race card has been drawn for Friday’s opening program of the 2021 racing season at Harrah’s Philadelphia, which will begin at 12:25 p.m.
 
The richest purse race on the day will be the last event on the program, a $12,800 pace for up-and-coming male horses. Father Nuno, fastest qualifier during the inaugural qualifying session here last Friday at 1:53.3, will be looking to make up for lost time as he starts from post four for driver George Napolitano Jr. and the brother team of trainer Tom and owner John Cancelliere: he has not raced in 497 days, since he was second to Papi Rob Hanover in the 2019 Governor’s Cup final.
 
The $11,600 fast-class co-featured pace, slotted for race six, will see Rock The Town (post one) and Joesstar Of Mia A (post four), who were 1-2 in the fastest mile of last week at Pocono, 1:50.3, taking on High Impression (post two), second to the blooming star Nicholas Beach last time out.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The perennial leading driver at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, George Napolitano Jr., won his third of the early-season Game Of Claims’ five Championships, and owner William Emmons Jr. his second, when they combined behind the Explosive Matter gelding Explosive Magic for a 1:56.2 victory in Monday $30,000 Game Of Claims Trotting Series Championship for $15,000-base-price horses.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Driver Jason Bartlett guided the two male winners of the $12,000 pacing tri-features at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono during the Sunday twilight card, with both Nome Hanover and Gonnahaveonemore both stopping the timer in 1:54.3 over a “sloppy” oval.
 
Bartlett used pace-controlling moves during the second quarter in winning both races by wide margins. The Mach Three gelding Gonnahaveonemore established a new lifetime mark in winning by 6¼ lengths for owner/trainer Pasquale Picca; the Well Said gelding Nome Hanover was clear by 2½ lengths on the money for trainer Mark Ford and owners George and Rose Bonomo.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES BARRE PA – In a classic stretch slugfest, the Sweet Lou gelding Tito Rocks nosed out Whos Better in 1:50.4 to win the $14,000 fast-class pace at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday afternoon. 
 
Tito Rocks got away fourth for driver Tyler Buter, while Whos Better and George Napolitano Jr. took the early lead and set fractions of :27.1 and :55.2. Buter had Tito Rocks quickly in high gear moving raw nearing the five-eighths, with the 9-5 favorite pacing his individual third quarter in :26 to engage 2-1 pacesetter Whos Better past the three-quarters in 1:22.2. Their battle continued all the way to the wire, where Tito Rocks proved slightly more photogenic for trainer Bob Cleary and Royal Wire Products Inc.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The trotters and pacers went behind the starting gate at Harrah’s Philadelphia for the first time in 2021 on Friday, with eight qualifiers held a week before the track’s Opening Day of Friday, April 2.
 
The fastest winner was the full brother to Captaintreacherous, the Somebeachsomewhere – Worldly Treasure four-year-old Father Nuno, who won in 1:53.3 under the guidance of George Napolitano Jr. for trainer Tom and owner/brother John Cancelliere. The royally-bred pacer’s last purse start was in the Governor’s Cup as a two-year-old, where he was second to Papi Rob Hanover; he qualified twice in June last year but never started, and this was his first racetrack appearance since those qualifiers.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The three $15,000 divisions of the third and final preliminary of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series for $15,000 base-priced horses, held Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, did absolutely nothing to clarify the picture before next Monday’s $30,000 series Championship.
 
Two of the three winners, both missing the first prelim, did not qualify for the final – they will be the two AEs based on the points. The third winner was ninth in the standings going into Monday, but he secured third place in the points – yet he was not claimed (in fact, none of Monday’s winners were), while the horses winding up 1-2-4 in the final pointstandings did change hands.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Captaintreacherous gelding Rogerthat Bluechip made an early move to control the pace, rested to the half, then sped home in :55.2 to win the $12,000 pacing feature for males in a lifetime best 1:52.3 during the Sunday twilight card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Jason Bartlett drove the winner, who has now taken two straight since coming to Pocono for trainer Andrew Harris and the ownership of Martin Budkey and Michael Goldberg Racingllc, and may be headed for better things.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The temperature finally got to 50 degrees on Saturday afternoon, the first day of Spring, at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono – and the Mach Three gelding J M Mandamin was the first horse to post a local 1:50 mile this season in taking the $14,000 fast-class pacing feature.
 
Driver Joe Bongiorno, teaming yet again with sister/trainer Jennifer Bongiorno, moved the razor-sharp performer from third early, went around early leader Ollie’s Z Tam, and set fractions of :27.1, :55, and 1:22.1. Trente Deo came first-over just past the half, but J M Mandamin proved equal to his challenge and to that of newcomer Paternity Suit A, who came roaring from far back late to get second. The winner took a new lifetime mark with his 1:50 victory, and his immediate future appears very bright for owner Robert Weinstein.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​WILKES-BARRE PA – The highly-anticipated return of the Somebeachsomewhere gelding Nicholas Beach to Pennsylvania took place Wednesday morning at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, where he streaked a last quarter of :26.2 to win a qualifier in 1:54.
 
Nicholas Beach, a $110,000 yearling, showed precociousness at two by following up a second in his debut with a 1:53.2 win at Pocono on August 19. But then Nicholas Beach did not get back to the races for 551 days, trying unsuccessfully to qualify once at three, and finally returning to the track and winning twice at Pocono at the end of winter 2020.
 
Another 172-day layoff ensued (remember COVID), and Nicholas Beach came back ready, winning seven of eight starts and finishing second in the other. He took a mark of 1:49 at Philly on August 28, coming his back half in :53.3 from post eight.

​WILKES-BARRE PA – Broadway Bruiser and Credit Fraud both became two-time winners in the Game Of Claims Trotting Series for $15,000-level horses on a Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, where the temperature cracked the freezing mark only near the end of the card.
 
Those two horses shared a couple of other traits, too: they were both driven to victory by a Napolitano, with each horse retaining the brother who won with them last week; they did this despite the fact that both were claimed out of their first prelim round; and both will again be moving to a new barn via claim after their triumphs in $15,000 divisions Monday.