By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The 2022 harness racing season at Harrah’s Philadelphia begins this Sunday, with the first of fourteen races scheduled to start at 12:40 p.m.
 
The two feature races on the inaugural card are in the middle of the program, races eight and nine. First in line is a $14,400 pace for the classclimbing “non-winners of 5 races” sort, with Shake It the likely choice from post two in the field of seven for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Chris Ryder after the altered sophomore son of Heston Blue Chip opened his seasonal account with Meadowlands victories in 1:52.1 and then 1:51.2.
 
Dunn and Ryder will try for a sweep of the opening day features at Philly with Shake That House, an American Ideal gelding who has won $818,807 while facing the best of his generation. He’ll go from post four in a field of eight in the $13,000 featured fast-class pace, making his seasonal debut after qualifying in 1:52.2 at Philly on March 25.
 
Harrah’s Philly will again be featuring as talented a driving and training colony as can be found anywhere in North America, which adds to the competitive nature of the racing / handicapping / betting at the southeast Pennsylvania oval.
 
In April, Harrah’s Philadelphia will operate on a Sunday – Thursday – Friday schedule, with Sundays at 12:40 and the other two days at 12:25, with the exception of a dark day on Easter Sunday, April 17.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Though moving from post two to post six, the hard-closing Captaintreacherous gelding What Treasure actually got a better trip than the week before on Monday afternoon, taking the $20,000 Championship of the Game Of Claims Series for $10,000 base-priced pacers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in 1:54.4, on a day with snow squalls, wind, and temperatures in mid-20s.
 
Last week Whata Treasure wound up a third-over last entering the far turn in his final prelim and could only get to third. This week, Anthony Napolitano had him on the move before the second turn, then picked up the cover of Skyway Fireball. When the first-over faltered on the far turn, Whata Treasure tipped three-wide, with his sights on pacesetting favorite P L Leeroy and pocketpulling Rogue Cheddar. The three had a good fight through the lane, with Whata Treasure getting a neck decision over P L Leeroy, who photoed Rogue Cheddar for second.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The four $12,500 divisions of Sunday’s third and final preliminary in the Game Of Claims Series for $15,000-base price trotting claimers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono had several commonalities: all four favorites won, and all four winners would be starting for different stables in next Sunday’s $25,000 Championship – just as the four winners have changed barns after every start they made in the GOC preliminaries.
 
Fastest of the four victorious trotters was Buzz, who went down the road for driver Jim Pantaleano, holding off Matt’s Muscles by a neck in 1:56.4. A first and a second in his only two series starts seems to be enough to get Buzz into the Championship.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Amidst mid-card flurries on a cold Saturday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, the first two Championships of the Game Of Claims Series – with a purse of $40,000 for $25,000 base-tag pacers and $25,000 for $15,000-priced sidewheelers – were conducted over “good” going, with red-hot driver Matt Kakaley accounting for both finales.
 
The higher-purse Championship saw the improved Western Ideal ridgling Go West Go Fast overcome the outside post eight with ease, posting a snappy 1:51.4 victory for driver Kakaley and the connections of trainer Jared Bako and Buck N Tuck Stable, who are now two-for-two with their recent acquisition. Kakaley made two early moves to take control of the tempo by the three-eighths, then buzzed his horse home in :27.2 to leave Caviart Max a non-threatening 1 1/2 lengths behind and promise brighter things in the pacer’s near future.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The trotters and pacers returned to southeastern Pennsylvania on Friday morning, as Harrah’s Philadelphia held ten qualifying races in preparation for its 2022 opener on Sunday, April 3.
 
The star of the show was Shake That House, a six-year-old son of American Ideal who has earned over $800,000; he won the Hempt and Progress Finals at three and last year was second in the William Haughton FFA Final. Trainer Chris Ryder had the horse ready at the opening bell, coming out of the two-hole for driver Dexter Dunn to win by 7¼ lengths in 1:52.2 for owners Crawford Farms Racing and Alan Johnston.
 
There will be another set of qualifying races at Philly on Tuesday morning, the day of the week that will be the regular qualifying day at Harrah’s; horses should be entered by 11 a.m. Monday. (Declaration day for Tuesday qualifiers will be Sunday once the meeting gets underway.) The day after these qualifiers, the draw for the first card of the season, Sunday, April 3, will be conducted, with entries to be sent in by 10 a.m.
 
After Opening Day, Harrah’s Philadelphia will operate on a Sunday (12:40), Thursday and Friday (12:25 both days) schedule throughout the month of April, with the exception of a dark day on Easter Sunday, April 17.

WILKES-BARRE PA – The first two of the five Championship races for the various sections of horses at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono will take place on Saturday afternoon, with the top eight horses per group after three preliminary legs squaring off – a $40,000 Championship for horses who wore a base tag of $25,000 in race ten, and a $25,000 Championship for $15,000-level horses two races later.
 
The Championships should be exciting races to watch, and certainly will pose a difficult challenge to handicappers and bettors; consider the following facts:

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The competitive nature of the various Game Of Claims Series at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono was again made clear Monday in the third and final prelim of the events for $10,000 and $7500 base-priced claimers – only one of the winners in eight GOC races (three $10,000 sections of the upper class and five $7500 splits of the lower one) was able to add a second Series triumph to his resume. 
 
The repeater did not come from the upper claimers, which in the progressively-priced series were tagged Monday for $15,000, although two of them appeared almost mirror images of each other: they both were driven by Jim Morrill Jr.; they both overcame post eight; they both were making their debuts for their barns after a claim; and those barns get to keep them after no claims of them were put in. Nihilated Truth was parked almost to the three-eighths for the lead yet still went on to win in 1:54.4, while Rogue Cheddar was able to sit a pocket journey and then pounce up the inside to win in 1:55.2.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – None of the winners in the four $12,500 divisions of the second preliminary of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series became repeat winners during Sunday action at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono – as none of them raced in the first leg.
 
The fastest clocking was the 1:55.4 mile turned in by Voss Volo, making his second start for trainer Bill (Moon) Mullin, hustling away for the pocket for driver Jim Morrill Jr. and then catching the frontstepping Buzz for a 2½ length victory.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The third and final preliminary leg for Game Of Claims Series pacers carrying basic pricetags of $30,000 and $20,000 respectively on Saturday as The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono finally caught a break in the weather after two series’ postponements, and the action on the racetrack and at the claiming box should ensure competitive fields for the two series’ Championships next Saturday.
 
Four previous Game of Claims winners met in one of the six divisions for higher-priced horses ($20,000 purses), with one of them, Go West Go Fast, proving an easy wire-to-wire winner in 1:52.1 for driver Matt Kakaley, who kept up his early-season Pocono heroics with seven winning drives Saturday, trainer Jared Bako and the Buck N Tuck Stable. Bako and Buck N Tuck claimed this horse out of his last start, and were able to bring him home to their barn after the race.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Queen Kendall and Toddler Tantrum were winners in the first week of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for $10,000-base price horses, but on Monday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, they both had to take a back seat to Whata Treasure, who closed from last to win by 3¾ lengths in 1:53.1 for driver Anthony Napolitano, who topped the local drivers colony with four wins.
 
Whata Treasure was claimed for $10,000 out of the first leg, and despite the hike in price to $12,500 for the second prelim, he was again taken out of the claiming box on a day where twelve horses changed hands for a total of $132,500. New owner Lawrence Smith will have to decide whether a first and a second in the first two prelims will be enough to make the final, or whether to drop him back in next week and risk losing him before the final on March 28.