By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
PROSPECT PA – The Pennsylvania fair harness racing circuit got its 2022 start on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Butler Fairgrounds in this westcentral Pennsylvania borough, with newcomers taking much of the spotlight in the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes races.
 
The season was two races old when the Father Patrick – Global Desire trotting colt Big Baller Beane, in his purse debut, overcame the outside post six in a field of seven in a mile with fractions of :30.3, 1:01, 1:31.4, and 2:02.1 – a final clocking which knocked 3 2/5 seconds off the previous divisional track standard, set by Toolbox Tuesday in 2016. Steve Schoeffel trains and drove the precocious youngster, named after the general manager of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills (it’s just a coincidence that Schoeffel’s nickname is “Beaner”), for Virginia and Kathy Schoeffel, James Reuther, and Roger Romesser.
 
The very first race of the season saw the in-laws of driver Dave Brickell and trainer/owner Mitchell York score with another in their long line of successful pacing fillies, Little Lady J. The daughter of A Rocknoll Dance – Monet’s Lilly traveled the mile in 2:01.3 to make her the fastest two-year-old at the Butler meet and keep her record perfect after three purse starts.
 
Wednesday was three-year-old day, and among the winners was the Explosive Matter trotting gelding Shock Proof in 2:07.2. It was the 26th start in the career of Shock Proof – and it made the very first charted line (no qualifiers, no matinees) a successful one for driver Amanda Shaw, of the famed PA fairs’ Shaw family. Jason Shaw trains the winner for Calvin Hoover.
 
Also achieving his first driving victory was 29-year-old Hugh O’Neil, who guided the Western Ideal filly Gray Skies to victory in 2:01.2. O’Neil is a native of Scotland, not exactly prime breeding ground for harness horsemen, but however he got to western Pennsylvania, Hugh got the job done for trainer Scott Betts and owner Timothy Betts.
 
As could be expected, the meet’s fastest miles came in the two three-year-old colt paces, which started the Wednesday program. The Betting Line gelding Southwind Memphis went in 2:01 to win for driver Aaron Johnston, trainer Nathan Bresnahan, and owners Adam and Mark Bresnahan; just a tick behind while taking his division was the Somebeachsomewhere gelding Honali for driver/trainer Brandon Presto and owner Larry Parlin.
 
Aaron Johnston drove three winners to lead the sulky colony, while Steve Schoeffel horses made three visits to Victory Lane for him to top the trainers group. The success was spread around very evenly at Butler – thirteen different drivers won in the twenty races over the two days, and seventeen trainers.
 
The PA Fair Circuit shifts direction right away, traveling 255 miles southeast for racing at the York Fair on Thursday and Friday, first post coming at 1 p.m. both days.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – A pair of $12,600 events for developing horses were featured at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon.
 
The trotting sector saw the Father Patrick sophomore filly Adore Me go past Ebbies Lady in the stretch en route to taking a new mark of 1:54.4. Ebbies Lady forced a :27.2 opener, then was on the move to retake before the :57.2 half and opened a sizable lead in the third stanza, which driver David S. Miller (there’s a reason why) and Adore Me were eating into by the 1:25.4 three-quarters. In the stretch Adore Me proved the stronger filly in winning for trainer Carter Pinske and the partnership of Pinske Stables, David J. Miller, and Curly Tall Curly Small.
 
Driver David Miller then completed a sweep of the featured events when the Betting Line three-year-old gelding Boardwalk Bet lowered his mark to 1:52.3 in the contest for male pacers. The sophomore made the lead near the :27 quarter, got a rest to the half of :56.2, then had to speed up as Mac’s Marvel, who had tucked fourth after leaving from post eight, came at him down the backstretch and to the three-quarters in 1:24.2. The pesky Mac’s Marvel was game as they come and kept on coming, but Boardwalk Bet withstood his bid by a neck, and now has a win and a second on his 2022 scorecard for trainer Eddie Sager and owners Gary Weidelman and Howard Taylor.
 
Yannick Gingras and Andrew McCarthy both brought home three winners during the Wednesday session at Philly.
 
Racing continues on Thursday, which features a $22,500 handicap trot and a $2641.72 carryover into the first race Superfecta, at 12:25. Friday’s racing will also start at 12:25; Sunday’s 12:40 program will feature the third preliminary leg for top Pennsylvania-sired three-year-old trotting males in Sire Stakes and Stallion Series action. Program pages are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Frazzleberry never looked back in winning the $13,000 featured conditioned  claiming pace on Tuesday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, in the process providing trainer Jose Godinez with his 1000th career victory.
 
The feature was a mirror image of the race before it, as driver Anthony Napolitano sent a Godinez trainee to the lead and was never caught. Frazzleberry, a son of Art Major, took command right away, put up a :27.4 quarter, rested to a :57.1 half, and then came home in :55.2 - :27.3 to lower his mark by over two seconds to 1:52.3. Joseph Betro, Ian Behar, and Kristie Leigh Farm Inc. own the winner.
 
Godinez, 39, a native of Mexico now living in Bullville NY, has been training for fifteen years, and has had most of his success at New York State tracks, though he is a frequent participant in the Pocono program.
 
A $12,500 event for trotters went to Great Magic for Team Whelan – driver Michael and trainer/owner Walter – in 1:55.2. The veteran son of Kadabra sat a pocket journey, then dashed up the Pocono Pike for a 1½ length victory over pacesetter Teddy Brosevelt. Great Magic has now won both of his starts since returning to the track where he took his mark of 1:54.4 last year.
 
Anthony Napolitano won the last four races on the Tuesday Pocono card to end the day with five victories; Braxten Boyd reported home first four times.

Racing resumes at Pocono on Saturday with a 1:30 program, with a $27,500 fast-class pace the highlight of a card with many talented horses. Program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. 

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Beyond The Lens really didn’t want favored Luisella to go by him at any point in the $15,000 featured trot on Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and the Angus Hall gelding found just enough to hold off the favorite to the finish while taking a new mark of 1:55.
 
Beyond The Lens went to the lead under Jim Pantaleano’s guidance, with the three-year-old filly Luisella circling up three-wide much of the first turn to get into challenging position by the :28.1 quarter. The fight throughout the middle half was quite heated, with Beyond The Lens and Luisella at each other and By A Hoff Hanover keeping the pocket shut, through a :56 half and a 1:25 three-quarters.
 
Into the stretch Beyond The Lens looked like he had put away his pesky rival, but she came back for more as the finish line approached, with Beyond The Lens getting the decision in the photo by a head. The winner now has a pair of victories and a second in four starts since entering the care of trainer/owner Arthur Jones.
 
Hands down, the most impressive performance of the day came from the Betting Line sophomore colt Quick Snap, who won a “nw 2 races” event in a startling 1:50. Quick Snap, in the pocket, was helped by wild early fractions of :26 and :54.2, but he still had the motor to go to the lead before the 1:22 three-quarters, and then finished out in :28 under the guidance of the meet’s leading driver Matt Kakaley. The colt is now two-for-two at three after posting three seconds in as many freshman starts for trainer Tony Alagna and the ownership of Let It Ride Stables, Bottom Line Racing LLC, M T Pockets Stables, and Alagna Racing.
 
The Pocono racing closes on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., with several different types of races co-featured on the card. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.       

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Driver Tim Tetrick swept the two divisions of the $135,032 third preliminary of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies during the Sunday card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, taking both sections with daughters of Captaintreacherous: winning first with (inter)national divisional leader Treacherous Dragon, and then with Captain Cowgirl in the faster cut.
 
Treacherous Dragon had anything but an easy time negotiating traffic in her division, avoiding an early mixup caused by a horse who made an “ex” before a :26.4 quarter. She tucked in third as Dont Fence Me In, who got around the trouble with the lead, and Lydeo, who was left parked, argued through middle panels of :56.3 and 1:23.3. Tetrick edged his filly out at the three-quarters, but ducked back inside on the far turn as the pocketsitter gave way, attacking Don’t Fence Me In in the Pocono Pike and getting the job done by three-quarters of a length in 1:51.2 with a sharp last sixteenth.
 
Treacherous Dragon was thus successful in her debut under the care of Nancy Takter, and kept her record unblemished in six seasonal starts, including two Sire Stakes. She has earnings of $560,613 for owners Hot Lead Farms LLC.
 
Tetrick took an easier route in the other section with Captain Cowgirl, going up past the :26.4 quarter to take command and putting up midsplits of :55.1 and 1:22.2 over a track which greatly favored speed. Queen Of Success, who went off at 4-5* to Captain Cowgirl’s 6-5, came out at headstretch and cut into the winner’s margin, but “Cowgirl” maintained a head advantage at the finish in 1:50.2.
 
Captain Cowgirl has two wins in three 2022 starts; her other victory came in 1:49.3 in a Sire Stakes at The Meadows. Jim King Jr. conditions the fleet filly, who has earned $323,835, for Jo Ann Looney-King and Kenneth Frieder.
 
Captaintreacherous and Sweet Lou split the siring honors in four $20,000 divisions of the Stallion Series, with Team Tetrick/King having the fastest winner in the Sweet Lou miss Lyons Serenity, dropping from the Sires to the StS and liking the competition level better. She set fractions of :26.3, got a breather to the half in :56, then tripped the timer in 1:23.1 and then a lifetime best of 1:50.4 while defeating game pocket horse San Antonio Stroll by three-quarters of a length for Threelyonsracing.
 
The other Sweet Lou success was Heartbreak Hotel, who after getting the lead in a :27.1 opener got to loaf to the half in :57.2. The speed sharpened after that, and Heartbreak Hotel came home in :55.2 - :27.1 to complete the 1:52.4 mile a length ahead of Lock Bridge. David Miller drove the winner, now victorious in half of her eight seasonal starts including two StS successes, for trainer Nifty Norman and the partnership of Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Bottom Line Racing LLC.
 
The McCarthy brothers won with the two victorious daughters of Captaintreacherous, the faster of which was Madeira Hanover, who front-ended to a new mark of 1:51.2 for Todd McCarthy. Fractions of :27, :56.1, and 1:23.3 were the springboard for the Linda Toscano trainee, who now has two Stallion Series wins and a Sire Stakes second after a 1¾ length score over Galleria Hanover for South Mountain Stables, Little E LLC, Mark Mullen, and JAF Racing LLC.
 
Andrew McCarthy was in the sulky for Southwind Java, who used the evening’s preferred speedy tactics and hung up numbers of :26.3, :55.4, and 1:23.4 before lowering her own lifetime best to 1:52.1 while holding off the inside charge of favorite Sweet Kisses by a head. Southwind Java is trained by Mark Harder, who is also a co-owner with Dean Lockhart, Wayne Carleton, and Deena Rachel Frost.
 
Racing continues at The Downs on Monday and Tuesday, with first post each day at 1:30 p.m. Program pages for Sunday’s Pocono card are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.     

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – A pair of $13,000 features for fast-class pacers topped the offerings on the Sunday afternoon card at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
In the event for males, the American Ideal gelding Speedy Dominic A fronted his field throughout fractions of :26.3, :56.2, and 1:22.4, then maintained superiority to the line while stopping the clock in a 1:50.2 in his second start for trainer Jennifer Bongiorno. Simon Allard drove the winner to the two length score over favored Jack’s Shadow N for M T Stables Ontario Inc.                     
                                                                                      
The distaff division of the feature had seen no fewer than five lead changes during the early fractions of :27.2 and :55.4, but at the midway point the favored Odds On Whitney was on top and the second choice Dresden was in second. They stayed that way past the 1:23 and all the way to the top of the lane, where the Roll With Joe mare Dresden found a higher gear and overhauled the chalk by 1½ lengths in 1:51.1. Dexter Dunn had the drive for trainer Robert Cleary and Henderson Farms.
 
Romping victories were the order of the day in the two $9900 events for the American Harness Drivers Club of amateur racers. In the first, Tony Beltrami went directly to the front with Tidquist, and the veteran Conway Hall gelding posted fractions of :28, :57.2, and 1:25.4 en route to an 11¾ length victory in 1:55.2 – with Tidquist now having a 2:00 credit in eight of his nine racing seasons. Beltrami guided the winner for owner/trainer John Obert.
 
In the other section, Todd Whitney left with the RC Royalty gelding Drazzmatazz and sat in the two-hole behind fractions of :27.4 and :56.4, then moved to the lead down the backstretch, hit the three-quarters in 1:26.1, and then was clear by 4¼ lengths after a 1:56.2 victory. Drazzmatazz won for the second straight week in AHDC competition at Philly for trainer Terry Morgan and Danbry Racing Inc.
 
Dexter Dunn, fresh off his :24.4 last quarter in Bulldog Hanover’s 1:47 the night before, led all drivers with four victories.
 
Harrah’s Philadelphia is now racing on a four-day-a-week schedule – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 12:25, and Sunday at 12:40. Next Sunday Harrah’s Philly will welcome top three-year-old trotting colts in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series action. Program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Im Sir Blake A took an immediate liking to the racing oval at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, shipping in and promptly taking a new mile mark of 1:49.1 while winning the $27,500 handicap pacing feature on Saturday.
 
Marcus Miller was the innermost of the three main leavers, forcing one in behind, then letting the other go nearing the :26.1 quarter, only to retake the lead in front of the stands. Im Sir Blake A passed the half in :55, started to leave the field behind nearing the 1:22.3 three-quarters and could not be caught while turning in a :26.3 last quarter.
 
Driver Marcus Miller’s father Erv conditions the altered son of Alta Christiano N, now a winner of $286,527, for owner Douglas Overhiser.
 
In one of the two $17,500 featured trots, the Kadabra mare P L Notsonice equaled the fastest trotting mile of the year at Pocono by going wire-to-wire in 1:52.1. Marcus Miller made the lead with the strong mare before the quarter and hung up fractions of :27.2, :56.2, and 1:24.1 en route to a routing of her opposition. Trained by Steven Brabrook for owners Jaypaul Hoover and Elite Harness Racing LLC, P L Notsonice now has earnings of $251,905, and on Saturday she missed her lifetime mark, taken at Plainridge last year, by a tick.
 
In the other trot headliner, another mare was just as dominant, as the Swan For All mare Queen Of All lowered her mark to 1:53.1 while raising her earnings to $322,125. Matt Kakaley moved the winner to the lead past a :28 opener, and she put up midsplits of :57 and 1:24.4 en route to lowering her speed badge. Lance Hudson trains the winner of two straight for owner William Hartt.
 
Two horsemen who were tied for the lead in most Pocono victories in their respective specialty both went clear with big Saturday cards: Matt Kakaley posted five victories, two of them trained by Darren Taneyhill, who had three victories in total on the day.
 
Over $200,000 will be on the line for Pennsylvania-sired three-year-old pacing fillies on Sunday as the Sire Stakes and Stallion Series misses contest their third preliminary leg. Treacherous Dragon, who opened her season with a Pennsylvania All-Stars victory and who since has gone on to be the leader of her division nationally, will race in one of two Sire Stakes contests; there are also four divisions of Stallion Series races. (And we can tip our cap to driver Dave Palone on his 20,000th victory Saturday by tying in the PA Sire Stakes and noting he is the winningest sulkysitter in the history of the Sire Stakes as well.)
 
Post time on Sunday is 5 p.m.; program pages for Sunday’s Pocono card are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.       

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Two three-year-old daughters of Muscle Hill who were $300,000+ yearling purchases finished 1-2 in the $14,400 trotting feature at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday afternoon, with Delilah Hanover overcoming a 22-day layoff and an uncovered trip to catch Cash Machine Girl in 1:54.3.
 
Cash Machine Girl, starting from the inside of the six-horse field, made a move to command past a :29.1 quarter and put up middle fractions of :57.4 and 1:25.3; Delilah Hanover, whose second dam produced Donato Hanover, left from the outside of the field, tucked fourth, then commenced a late backstretch brush for driver Todd McCarthy. The two sophomores battled each other around the turn and into the lane, and it was Delilah Hanover who proved the better by 1¼ lengths while coming her own last half in :55.4, putting her two-for-three this campaign and boosting her bankroll to $167,154 for trainer Nifty Norman and the ownership of David Mc Duffee, Melvin Hartman, Paul Bordogna, and Mary Kinsey Arnold.
 
In the very next race trainer Nifty Norman combined with a McCarthy brother to make a sweep of the today’s featured events, as Andrew McCarthy guided Hellabalou to a 1:50.4 victory. The four-year-old son of Sweet Lou, winner of the Adios and $393,201 in 2021, was glad to not see the likes of Carbine and Bulldog Hanover in against him and dashed to the front, recording splits of :26.1, :55.1, and 1:23 en route to a for length triumph, his initial victory of the year for owner Eric Good.
 
Andrew McCarthy and George Napolitano Jr. tied for the day’s honors by each steering three winners.
 
The racing week concludes on Sunday at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with two $13,000 fast-class paces and two divisions of the American Harness Drivers Club series for amateur drivers the featured events. Post time for the Sunday program is 12:40 p.m.; programs are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Treacherous Dragon, the top three-year-old pacing filly in North America this far into 2022, will be racing at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono’s 5 p.m. twilight card Sunday, in one of two $67,316 divisions of the third preliminary leg of her division’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes competition.
 
Treacherous Dragon is a daughter of Captaintreacherous who races for Hot Lead Farm LLC. She earned $299,612 at two, and so far is improving on her good form of last year, as she has won all five of her 2022 starts, including a Pennsylvania All-Stars race here at Pocono in her seasonal debut on May 8 and a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes event at Harrah’s Philly on May 29. In her last two starts, she won the elimination and then the final of the $308,700 Fan Hanover Stake, with these lofty credentials bringing her the #8 slot among the Top Ten horses in all of North American harness racing. 
 
Tim Tetrick will retain his usual seat in the sulky behind Treacherous Dragon as the pair start from post five in a six-horse field. In an interesting move, the filly is listed to be switching barns from one former Trainer of the Year (Brett Pelling) to that of another (Nancy Takter).
 
Among her competition, Sweet And Feisty has posted a win in both the Stallion Series and then the Sire Stakes, and Lydeo has been second in both her Sires starts. But it would be hard to see Treacherous Dragon going off as anything but a well-backed favorite.
 
Another daughter of Captaintreacherous, Captain Cowgirl, is likely to draw much support in the other Sire Stakes section off a thumping 1:49.3 in a PaSS event at The Meadows on June 11; Tim Tetrick is also listed behind Captain Cowgirl. Addition fine racing will be provided by four $20,000 Stallion Series divisions for this classification; nobody won in both the legs of the StS to date, but no fewer than five winners at this level are among the scheduled participants.
 
Program pages for Sunday’s Pocono card are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.  

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
HARRISBURG PA – Hard to believe, but it’s already time for the 2022 Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes season, with the first draw on Sunday for races Tuesday and Wednesday at the Big Butler Fair in the western part of the state.
 
Draws for the fair races, 16 stops at the fairs and five for “two-day events” as prescribed by Pennsylvania law, will take place two days before the first day of racing, with the box closing at 10 a.m. Entries can be made through the USTA system, or by calling 610 513 7957 or 610 874 5200. 
 
Just under $100,000 is expected to be at stake in the “A” and “B” divisions of the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes, for top-class sons and daughters of Pennsylvania-based stallions, at each of the twenty-one stops on the circuit. The top pointwinners during the entirety of the fair season will meet on Friday, October 7 for bragging rights in their eight Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championships.
 
After Butler, the fair racing continues right on at York on Thursday and Friday, with the draw for those races on Tuesday. Since Pennsylvania rules call for three days between starts for fair horses, it’s likely that the first stops will consist of the western-PA-based horsemen at Butler and the eastern-PA-based horsemen at York. There are very few of this type of overlap during the three-month program.