By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Bar Hopping gelding Bruha took the early lead in the $15,500 trotting feature Tuesday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, yielded to fellow 6-5 shot Brother Love, then came back on up the Pocono Pike to record a 1:55.3 decision.
 
Melissa P closed well from far back but came up 1½ lengths shy, with Brother Love another half length behind. Bruha, who had $32 more wagered on him than the pacesetter, recorded his second victory of the year for driver George Napolitano Jr. and trainer Cote Keim, the later co-owner with Michelle Rickey.
 
The Bobby Weiss Series, four events divided by gait and sex that annually showcase three-year-olds on their way to better things, takes place at The Downs in April, and some sophomores are already showing the form that will be needed to do well in the Weiss competition. One highly-regarded pacer who won Tuesday, the Captaintreacherous gelding Barrow, made two moves to overcome the outside post eight and take a new mark of 1:51.3 for driver Bradley Chisholm, trainer Brett Pelling,  and the ownership of Let It Ride Stables Inc., Morrison Racing Stables, and Jesmeral Stable. Fillies eligible to the Weiss who broke their maiden Tuesday include the trotting filly Captainess Sawyer and the pacer Sweetloveofmine.
 
Three drivers recorded three victories Tuesday at Pocono, and among them the trio have won the last sixteen dash titles here: Tyler Buter (the defending champion), Matt Kakaley (2011 and 2022-2024), and George Napolitano Jr. (2010 and 2012-2021). Two trainers posted doubles: Chelsey Faurot and Josue Garcia.
 
The next card at Pocono will be on Saturday at 1 p.m.; it will feature the fastest local pacers in a $27,500 contest, and it will have a carryover into the last race High Five wager. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Team Cushing – trainer Heidi and driver Ron, the latter also the co-owner with Kevin Sywyk -- swept into Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Monday afternoon and promptly swept the two featured paces for top distaffs.
 
Last week the Vincent mare Turn The Page N came to the mountain oval and parlayed a perfect pocket trip to victory in the $27,500 distaff feature; in the same class this week the route couldn’t have been more different or harder, but the mare went on courageously in a 1:52.2 clocking.
 
The Kiwi import had cover past the  :26.2 opening quarter and was then left raw as Lydeo surged past favored Fearless Bettor at the three-eighths. Despite having to take all the air in middle splits of :55.2 and 1:23.4, Turn The Page N gained unceasingly and made the lead nearing the top of the stretch. The second-over (AVF Claire), third-over (Strutsville) and fourth-over (Miki In Luv) came barreling through the lane and were all within three parts of a length of the winner at the wire, but Turn The Page N was dead-game, with the winning margin a head and the two-wide horses finishing in the order listed above.
 
As hard-fought as was the victory of Turn The Page N, the Team’s Sweet Lou mare Sweet Hayley Jane A won just as easily in 1:51.3, taking the $17,500 co-feature for females and completing the trans-Tasman double. After fractions of :27.1 and :56.1, Sweet Hayley Jane A went to the three-quarters in 1:23.3 and started leaving the field behind, crossing the wire 4¾ lengths ahead while lowering her mark by 4 4/5 seconds.
 
The featured event for male pacers was a $15,500 contest for developing horses, with the Lazarus N gelding Lazarus Star continuing the good afternoon for Down Under-connected horses by making two tough moves and then holding off Bettor’s Desire, who was on his back, by a nose, taking a new mark of 1:52.1. Braxten Boyd guided The Meadowlands invader for trainer Mark Silva and All Star Racing Inc.
 
The Pocono tote board provided an early-season fireworks display as Frank The Great was along late to win his race and return $150.00 for every $2 win ticket. This March 9 “bomber” came far earlier than the first 2025 rank outsider – June 17, when Rwehomeyet paid $180.20, the only win mutuel in the last three years to top that of Frank The Great.
 
The last six races at Pocono on Monday were won, in order, by George Napolitano Jr., Ron Cushing, Tyler Buter, Mark Herschberger, Ridge Warren, and Anthony Napolitano – with each of the six completing a driving double and sharing the day’s honors. The aforementioned Heidi Cushing had the card’s only training double.
 
Tuesday’s 1 p.m. Pocono program will feature a $15,500 class for up-and-coming trotters; there will also be a double carryover into the fifth race Pick 5 wager. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Custard The Dragon gelding Rum N Raisins, a winner of two of his three Game Of Claims Pacing Series preliminaries and claimed out of all three, continued his winning ways in the $35,000  GOC Series Championship, richest race of the young campaign at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, while posting a new lifetime mark of 1:51. Rum N Raisins also changed hands for the fourth straight time, as he was haltered for $30,000 out of the final, but owner Caldwell Mamia Racing LLC and trainer Cory Stratton will take Saturday’s $17,500 first money as “consolation” for losing the horse after one week.
 
Tyler Buter, Pocono’s winningest driver in 2025 and again atop the colony early in this meet, left alertly with “RNR” then yielded to Supplemental Fee after forcing that one to go to the quarter in :26.2. Rum N Raisins continued in the golden chair through midsplits of :55.2 and 1:22.3 as no one mounted a threatening midrace two-wide challenge, then was moved outside late on the far turn before the sweepers arrived on the scene, went right to the top, then held off the strongest of the late ralliers, Twigg’s Pub, by 1½ lengths.
 
The Somebeachsomewhere gelding Sandbetweenmytoes, who paid $409.80 to win in his hard-charging Breeders Crown three-year-old male pace, is six years further along now, but he still isn’t earning enough mutuel respect. In the $20,000 fast-class pace, the veteran was dismissed at 6-1 despite two straight wins, and he proceeded to add a third consecutive triumph, prevailing in 1:51.1 for driver Ridge Warren, trainer Dirk Simpson, and Greg Luther Racing LLC. In contrast to his Crowning achievement at Hoosier, Sandbetweenmytoes raced on the lead Saturday, then withstood the pesky raw challenger Leonidas A by a nose, with Chase H Hanover third; ironically, the place and show horses are millionaires, while the Crown champion has a lifetime bankroll of “only” $890,882.
 
Top trots on the card were a pair of $17,500 events for up-and-coming horses. The faster went to the Muscle Hill gelding Te Amo Lindy, who worked out a pocket trip for the third straight time, but this week improved his previous finishing positions by one in 1:55, defeating Scudo Hanover by a length. George Napolitano Jr. drove the winner for trainer-owner Jill Roland.
 
In the other feature trot, the Perfect Spirit gelding Zenmeister S was sent off at 1-10 after opening his Stateside career with three victories. Two breaks before the 1/8, along with a mile in which he never saw the pylons and was outside raw most of the way, gave his backers some tense moments, but Zenmeister S is now four-for-four in North America after overcoming his troubles by trotting home with identical :28.2 back quarters in a 1:55.3 victory, a neck ahead of Kovu As. Brett Beckwith had sulky duty for the meet’s leading trainer Per Eriksson and Order By Stable AB.
 
Matt Kakaley, top winning sulkysmith at Pocono in 2022-2023-2024, led all drivers with three winners Saturday, while three of Pocono’s “B-Boys” had doubles: Brett Beckwith, Braxten Boyd (the last two Rising Star Award winners) and Tyler Buter. Darren Taneyhill was the only trainer posting a two-bagger.
 
Filly and mare pacers will be spotlighted Monday during a 1 p.m. card at Pocono, lining up for a $27,500 fast-class handicap pace; there will also be a carryover into Monday’s Pick 5 wager. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Belmondo and Shoresy were impressive winners in the $15,500 co-featured trotting events Tuesday afternoon at Pocono Downs, where the track was rated “sloppy” and intermittent precipitation descended at points during the card, which was conducted in temperatures a degree or two either side of  freezing.
 
Belmondo came in from Yonkers and made short work of his opposition in 1:56.3 for Team Double D – driver Daniel Dube and trainer Deborah Daguet. The four-year-old Walner gelding, owned by Michael Cote Gagnon, was sent right to the lead and had an open margin the last half of the mile for his first win since the 2024 Championship victory in the Massachusetts program.
 
Shoresy notched his third victory in as many starts since going to the meet’s leading trainer, Per Engblom, winning his division of the feature in 1:57.1. Tyler Buter, Pocono’s top reinsman in 2025 and ahead again early in this meet, worked out a second-over trip with the son of Cantab Hall, lost his cover midturn, and carried on strongly to win for owners Timothy Betts and Shanamphilankilou Inc.
 
YS Do It Right, a champion in the 2020 Quebec breeding program, continues to achieve at age eight. On Tuesday he broke a six-way tie for winningest Standardbred in North America by posting his seventh victory in an undefeated campaign, stopping the timer in 1:55. Mark Herschberger made two speed moves with the son of Bettor’s Delight, and the Monticello shipper proved uncatchable late for trainer-owner Autym Sowers.
 
Herschberger notched a driving triple on the card; Buter, Ridge Warren, and Anthony Napolitano had doubles (for the last-named his third two-bagger in as many racing days this week). Trainer Chelsey Faurot sent out two successful charges, ready to go after layoffs of 86 and 93 days.
 
Racing resumes at Pocono on Saturday at 1 p.m., featuring the richest race of the year to date at the mountain oval, the $35,000 Game Of Claims Pacing Series Championship for horses base-tagged at $30,000 (and claiming out of the final is permitted this year). In the three GOC prelim rounds, the eight finalists recorded ten victories and 21 out of 24 1-2-3 finishes, which should ensure a competitive challenge for the horses and horsemen as well as for the wagering public. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – After racing at Monticello, Yonkers, and Saratoga already in 2026, Turn The Page N was on the road again on Monday at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, taking the big end of the purse in the $27,500 fast-class handicap pace for mares.
 
Ron Cushing, who co-owns the Heidi Cushing trainee with Kevin Sywyk, was content to sit with his mare in the pocket behind pacesetter My Red Sea through mild fractions of :27, :56, and 1:24.2 on a chilly day. He then ducked the daughter of Vincent to the Pocono Pike and outpaced her opposition home in 1:53.2. Dandy’s Mercy skimmed the far inside of the course to take second, a length back of the 40% career winner (24 victories in 60 starts).
 
The clocking was a little faster, 1:52.2, in the $17,500 pacing co-feature for developing distaffs, with the winner another New Zealand import who loves to get home first, the Johny Rock mare Raspalia N, now victorious seven times in but sixteen lifetime trips behind the gate.
 
Driver Lauren Tritton was determined to make the lead despite the outside post seven, and she and her charge had to cover a good bit of extra real estate, well beyond a :27 quarter, before hitting the top, whereupon she continued on to middle fractions of :55.3 and 1:22.3. Raspalia N had enough in reverse to keep the pocketsitting Loot, the longest shot in the race, 1¾ lengths behind her to the wire, keeping her Stateside record perfect after three starts for trainer Agostino Abbatiello and owner Durazzano Stable LLC.
 
The Monday card again showed parity in the sulkysitter ranks, with the same pattern as Saturday: two wins were recorded by Simon Allard, Braxten Boyd, Mark Herschberger, and Anthony Napolitano (the only repeat doubler), and one win by six other drivers. On the Monday card, fourteen different trainers were responsible for the winners of the fourteen races.
 
If the weather does not force a change in plans, Pocono will close out its racing week on Tuesday at 1 p.m., with a pair of $15,500 contests for up-and-coming trotters in the spotlight. Saturday has the next scheduled card, and that 1 p.m. program will feature the richest race of the young Pocono season, the $35,000 Championship of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for horses base-priced at $30,000, with the field of eight showing ten victories and 21 1-2-3 finishes in their cumulative 24 starts in the GOC preliminaries.
 
 Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – You don’t often see the words “Pocono Downs,” “February” and “1:49.2” in the same sentence; then again, you seldom can find the first two concepts and “57 degrees” in one sentence, either.
 
Reaching that impressive time on Saturday, just a tick off the fastest mile anywhere in North America in 2026, was the Sweet Lou gelding Lou Hill, winning Pocono’s $27,500 pacing feature by a neck over Catalpa Rescue A in a second consecutive 1-2 finish. Last time Lou Hill set the pace and resisted the late pocket thrust of his Aussie foe; this week “Lou” again made early command then pushed Catalpa Rescue A past a :27 quarter before sitting in the golden chair behind midsplits of :54.4 and 1:22. Simon Allard popped Lou Hill, now a winner at a 36% clip in his career, out for the drive and gradually wore down the pacesetting chalk for trainer Per Engblom and owner Tom Hill.
 
The horse who had the NoAm 1:49.1 “speediest” distinction (at post time at least) was Rockin Jukebox; he came to Pocono off that Meadowlands mile and set the pace in the $20,000 pacing cofeature but could not hold the advantage. That event went to the Somebeachsomewhere gelding South Beach Star (himself no slouch at success with a 34% lifetime ratio), who had to overcome an uncovered journey as the chalk but still held off the sweeper Vici by a head in 1:51. Braxten Boyd had sulky duties for trainer Mark Silva and All Star Racing Inc.
 
A $27,500 handicap contest for fast-class trotters was won by the Resolve gelding Resolve To Win (30% career win rate) and driver George Napolitano Jr. in 1:53.1. He equaled his own Pocono seonalas trot mark while catching his stablemate Super Duper Cooper by a neck after tripping out in the two-hole behind his barnmate.  Enrico Robinson trains and Pollack Racing LLC owns both of the 1-2 diamondgaiters.
 
The top-notch card also featured four $17,000 divisions of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series, which this week found the entrants base-tagged for $30,000. Two of the winners recorded a second victory in the GOC Series, and those two will change barns after being among the six horses who were claimed just before next Saturday’s $35,000 Championship.
 
Greatest Ending, who posted the co-fastest time of 1:51 and was the only series winner not to take a mark Saturday, will be coming out of a new barn for the third time in four starts, while Rum And Raisins (1:51.3) will be racing for his fourth straight set of new connections. Also successful in the last prelim, and not getting claimed, were Twiggs Pub (1:51) and Up The Creek (1:51.2); the latter will be hard-pressed to make the final as this was his initial series start.
 
Horsemen who posted doubles in the exciting Saturday action were trainers Joe Bongiorno and Cote Keim and drivers Brett Beckwith, Colin Kelly, and the Napolitano brothers, Anthony and George Jr.
 
A fine field of female pacers have been gathered together for the $27,500 handicap feature at The Downs on Monday afternoon, when post time will be 1 p.m. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.