By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – In changing weather, three impressive three-year-old males won their respective $30,000 divisions of Pennsylvania All-Stars action during the Sunday twilight card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Over a “fast” track in the first division, raced before the rain came, Kosher Mahoney was let go at 7-1, was unbothered on the lead, and came home in :56.3 - :28.1 to win in a new mark of 1:53.3 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Symon Spicer, and Keystone Stable. Favored S I P made a brief break in the pocket early and did not have enough to recover; closest to the victorious Explosive Matter gelding at the finish was Dandy, whose vaunted late kick was not suited to the speed-favoring situation at that time and came up 1¼ lengths short to the winner of $131,527.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The Rock N Roll Heaven gelding Let It Ride N paced the fastest mile of the 2022 season at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, winning the $22,500 featured handicap pace in 1:49.2 with the temperature at the 90 degree mark.
 
Let It Ride N showed good gate speed for driver Todd McCarthy but was outleft just to his right by No Lou Zing, who was a slight favorite as both were dispatched at 8-5. No Lou Zing set fractions of :26.1, :55, and 1:22, with Backstreet Shadow coming out of fourth to challenge before the last-named station.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Chapter Seven gelding Incommunicado, despite being off for over six months, tied the fastest trotting time of the year at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, 1:52.2, in winning the $17,500 trotting portion of the Saturday co-featured events.
 
The four-year-old, a winner of over $200,000 at both two and three, was sent right to the front by George Napolitano Jr., putting foes behind in a :27 opener, resting to the half in :56.3, and then speeding up to hit the three-quarters in 1:24.3. Dee’s Red Delicious gave valiant chase from the pocket, but Incommunicado still had a :27.4 kicker in him to win by a half length for trainer Åke Svanstedt and the partnership of Knutsson Trotting Inc., Little E LLC, Arthur Geiger, and David Stolz.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Race favorite Melady’s Monet might have had earnings that were $1,951,861 greater than second choice Skyway Bebop at the start of the year, but the “upstart Queen Of The Hill” Thursday at Harrah’s Philadelphia was Skyway Bebop, who motored to her sixth straight victory in the featured $22,500 handicap trot.
 
Driver Tony Morgan got away fourth with the five-year-old daughter of Guccio, but soon after the :27.1 opening quarter he had her in high gear to take over command going past the stands, reaching the half in :55.3 and hitting the three-quarters in 1:23.2. No one really threatened Skyway Bebop in the stretch as she won by 2¼ lengths in 1:52.1, a lifetime mark and only 3/5 of a second of the divisional track record set 51 weeks ago by Manchego. Scirocco Rob sat the pocket to be second, with first-over Swan In Motion third and Melady’s Monet fourth from second-over on a track never very kind to closers.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Big Als Stables has been part of the ownership of the five-year-old Rouser Hanover with other entities before buying the horse outright at the end of last year. And the patience seems to be paying off, as the son of Captaintreacherous out of $1M-winning Romantic Moment, making him a full brother to Rockyroad Hanover, won the faster division of the featured pace for pacing males at Harrah’s Philly Wednesday in 1:51, his third straight win – and his fifth lifetime in eight starts. (All four features went for $12,600 at Philly Wednesday.) 
 
Unraced at two, winner of one-for-two at three and one-for-three at four while undoubtedly keeping trainer Tony Alagna alternately hopeful and frustrated, Alagna must be more towards the hopeful side now after Andrew McCarthy made a quarter-move with Rouser Hanover, then held off a spirited first-over bid for Jo Pa’s Warrior by a half-length in a :55 back half. The victory was one of five on the day for driver Andrew McCarthy.

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.