By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The four-year-old Muscle Hill gelding Spy Booth started his four-year-old campaign with only one lifetime victory, but on Tuesday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono he ran his 2022 record to three-for-three with a 1:56 victory in the $15,000 featured trot. Spy Booth went to the lead right at the start and was in firm control throughout for driver George Napolitano Jr., trainer Lorenzo De Simone, and owner Joseph Riad.
 
Spy Booth achieved a bit of notoriety when he broke his maiden in the $325,000 Zweig Memorial at Vernon last year – add 50% of that purse to the $225,000 he earned finishing second in the Hambletonian Final, and the pair of races account for $387,500 of his $455,882 career bankroll. Away from the stakes toughies, he’s doing quite nicely and may handle future class stepups.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The two Dan Patch awardwinners in the older pacing category in 2021 squared off in a Harrah’s Philadelphia qualifier Tuesday morning, with Allywag Hanover, making his first trip behind the gate this season, defeating the mare Lyons Sentinel by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.
 
Todd McCarthy sent the victorious Captaintreacherous gelding right to the top, with brother Andrew, handling Lyons Sentinel, settling right in behind. Fractions of :29, :57.4, and 1:25.2 were posted, with Lyons Sentinel narrowing in late and both pacers giving a good account of themselves. Brett Pelling trains Allywag Hanover for Allywag Stable.
 
 Another member of Team Pelling, last year’s good freshman Hammering Hank, had a nightmare journey in his 2022 bow,  getting away last, a dozen lengths behind at the half, then suffering interference past the three-quarters, but still rallied for second behind 1:55.2 winner Hunt For Cash. “Hank” probably won’t have that much bad racing luck in almost all of his starts the rest of the campaign.
 
Driver Andrew McCarthy won qualifiers with a pair of Jim King Jr.-trained sophomore pacing fillies: the Captaintreacherous miss Captain Cowgirl in 1:53.2, and the Sweet Lou distaff Lyons Serenity in 1:52.4.
 
Video of the day’s qualifiers is posted on the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association website, www.phha.org.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
 
WILKES-BARRE PA – There were a pair of $11,000 featured events at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Monday afternoon, with favored Straight Up Cool winning the pace in 1:52.4 after a rainstorm came through the area, and 30-1 shot Lazer Jet upsetting in the trot in 1:57 before the weather became unsettled.
 
Straight Up Cool, a gelded son of Straight Shooting who missed just a neck in his Pocono bow last week, had to work hard to get the victory here, tucking and then coming uncovered from the half, but he wore down pacesetting Nome Hanover by 1 1/4 lengths under the handling of George Napolitano Jr. for trainer Mike Watson and owner Clifford Grundy.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​CHESTER PA – Two Dan Patch divisional champions from 2021 will begin from the opposite ends of the starting gate in the “featured qualifier” at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.
 
In the ninth and final qualifier, Lyons Sentinel will start from the rail for trainer Jim King Jr. and driver Tim Tetrick. Champion of her division at two and four, the now-five-year-old daughter of Captaintreacherous, who has $2,003,594 in lifetime earnings, was second in a qualifier at Harrah’s Philly last Tuesday, pacing her last three-quarters in 1:23, and is likely to be even tighter for this mile.
 
Drawing outside in the field of six is another champion sired by Captaintreacherous, Allywag Hanover, beginning his five-year-old campaign for trainer Brett Pelling and driver Todd McCarthy. A winner of $942,000 last season, Allywag Hanover won in 1:46.4 at Lexington, and counted among his triumphs the TVG Final, the Allerage, the Canadian Pacing Derby, and the William Haughton and Sam McKee Memorials. 
 
Trainer Pelling will have Hammering Hank starting from the outside of a field of seven in another qualifier. Yet another offspring of Captaintreacherous, Hammering Hank was one of last year’s best freshman colts, winning eight of eleven starts and $283,218 while capturing the Kindergarten Final and the Pennsylvania Stallion Series Championship in addition to posting 2-4 finishes in the Breeders Crown. Dexter Dunn is listed to handle the returning three-year-old in his first appearance of 2022.
 
Post time for the qualifiers at Philly on Tuesday is 9:30 a.m. The Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen Association (https://www.phha.org/) should have video of all the qualifiers posted within a couple of hours of the completion of the morning session.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The sport’s “glamour division,” the three-year-old pacing colts, came to The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Sunday for three $30,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event, and the most impressive – not necessarily because he had the fastest time, but the way he raced – was the Betting Line colt Night Hawk.
 
David Miller guided the sophomore up to the lead by a :27 quarter, and then got “average” (for these) splits of :55.4 and 1:23.4. The only foe hanging close was pocketsitter Captain Cowboy, and when Miller gave his colt a gentle wakeup call soon into the stretch, he responded with a :26.1 blitz home to complete the 1:50 mile, not looking like he was working hard at all. Captain Cowboy, to his credit, was only a length back, but Night Hawk always looked to be in control while establishing a lifetime best.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​CHESTER PA -- The redoubtable Southwind Ozzi won his fourth straight race at Harrah’s Philadelphia Sunday afternoon, taking the $22,500 handicap pace in 1:50.
 
The track’s leading driver, Tim Tetrick, got the six-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere away third as Peace Out Posse put None Bettor A in behind him to a searing :26 quarter, then had him going again to move to the lead in front of the stands. Fast midsplits of :54.2 and 1:21.4 did not appear to affect “Ozzi” at all, as the 2019 Little Brown Jug, had nobody gaining threateningly on him late; Peace Out Posse saved second from the pocket, three lengths behind and a length ahead of closer Bee Two Bee.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The 13-year-old Melady’s Monet went over the $2 million mark in career earnings, boosting his bankroll to $2,005,198 with a 1:53.2 victory in the $22,500 handicap trot feature at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon.
 
The track’s leading driver, Tim Tetrick, put the Revenue S gelding on the lead early and then was content to yield to Wild And Crazy Guy, coming off four straight victories at Yonkers, and sit in the pocket behind fractions of :27.2, :56, and 1:24.2. As they turned for home, Tetrick showed Melady’s Monet space along the inside, and the graybeard knew exactly what to do for the 84th time in his career, winning by     lengths over closing Vainqueur R P No.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The Pennsylvania-sired state program returned to Harrah’s Philadelphia on Wednesday, with two divisions of Sire Stakes and four divisions of Stallion Series competition for three-year-old trotting fillies.
 
The division worth $67,591 proved the faster of the two, with the Bar Hopping filly Manon rallying gamely into a :27.3 last quarter to upend pacesetter Mon Cheval by a neck in a career best 1:53.3 for trainer Lucas Wallin and Harbor Racing Stable LLC.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Kadabra gelding Buzz, a gem of recent consistency with four wins and three seconds in his last seven starts, won an easy winner in the $12,500 fast-class featured trot at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The winner of his division of the Game Of Claims Series earlier this spring, Buzz was entered for the optional $20,000 claiming tag, and he won in probably the only way he knows – on the front end. Fractions of :27.3, :56.3, and 1:25.2 under Jim Pantaleano’s handling were more than too much for his opposition to handle, and he finished out his 1:54.2 mile 3¾ lengths to the good of Dylan The Great. Since being reclaimed on April 19 by trainer Joe Skowyra and owner Rocco Stebbins, Buzz has won two straight while taking his lifetime earnings to $432,674.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The three-year-old pacing filly Niki Hill, last year’s divisional champion, was a strong-finishing winner in her qualifier on Tuesday morning at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with two-time divisional champion Lyons Sentinel a rapidly-closing second in her first trip behind the starting gate this year in another qualifier.
 
The Always B Miki filly Niki Hill had cut the mile in her first seasonal qualifier only to be caught by half a length by Treacherous Dragon, who went on to win her 2022 purse debut at Pocono this past Sunday. In this event, Niki Hill was taken back to fifth in a six-horse field by driver Dexter Dunn, who unleashed her going down the backstretch and covered the last half with her in :55.1 - :26.4 to complete a 1:54.3 victory over a “+1 variant” racetrack in heavy winds. The winner of $904,557 has been brought to readiness by trainer Chris Ryder for owner Tom Hill.