By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Developing horses and seasoned veterans shared the spotlight on “Trottin’ Thursday” at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
The word “developing” applies to the Trixton four-year-old gelding Gerard better than it does to most horses: he had a lifetime scorecard of 40-1-12-7 on May 1, but since then he has learned to win with four triumphs in his last eight starts, including a 1:55 mile in one of Thursday’s two $14,400 trots. Gerard went right to the top despite the outside post seven, yielded when favored Victoriana brushed to the lead, then pulled out headstretch and surged past for a 1¼ length victory. Gerard boosted his lifetime bankroll to $101,377 while equaling his lifetime best for trainer James De Lucia and This N That Stable.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The heavy favorites both took it on the chin in two divisions of the second preliminary round of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-old trotting colts on Thursday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
First to fall was Global Pandemic, who had won a Tompkins-Geers stake and a Pennsylvania All-Stars contest before finishing second to early divisional leader Keg Stand in a 1:55.1 division of the first Sires leg. Here the 1-5 favorite moved to the lead after a :28.4 quarter and set middle fractions of :58.1 and 1:27, but lurking in the pocket was the Explosive Matter – Blintz gelding Kosher Mahoney, and it was that baby who proved to have the most in the stretch, going right by by 1¾ lengths while lowering his mark to 1:56.1. Tim Tetrick drove the 4-1 second choice to the victory for trainer Symon Spicer and owner Eli Beiler.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Tellitlikeitis gelding Red Power, recently joining the oversight of trainer Brian Malone and owner Peter Venturini, posted his third straight victory, and fifth of his career, with a 1:50.4 clocking in the pacing division of the twin $15,300 features Tuesday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Jim Marohn Jr. kept the Pocono invader in third until late on the backstretch, moved him out and went quickly to the lead, and then roared home in :27.1 to win despite a layoff of 40 days.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Two-year-old colts were spotlighted in a pair of $11,700 contests during the Monday afternoon card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
In the baby colt trot, Aggiornamento started his career with two straight victories after setting the pace and then holding off the debuting pocketsitter Backstreet Player by three-quarters of a length in a “career”-best-equaling 1:58.1. These two were the two favorites in the race, and raced like it – the third-place horse was almost another fifteen lengths behind them – with Aggiornamento, a Nuncio – Tuonela gelding driven by Tom Jackson for trainer Fred Grant and owner Russell Williams, having enough left late to make his advantage stand up.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono featured two $35,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event for two-year-old trotting fillies on its Sunday twilight card, and a most noteworthy career debut was made by Mon Cheval, who came home in :57 - :28 to stop the timer in 1:54.3. 
 
At 1-9, Mon Cheval was expected to do well for several reasons: she had won two consecutive baby races before her debut, one in 1:54.2 at The Meadowlands, and she has among the most royal of pedigrees, Father Patrick – Shake It Cerry, a pairing which earned over $5 million, a Trotter of the Year award, and four seasonal divisional honors, not to mention their post-racetrack careers. Dexter Dunn drove her as if she were the best, and she certainly was for trainer Nancy Takter (the defending Driver and Trainer of the Year combining) and the noted Solveig’s Racing Partners.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Somebeachsomewhere gelding Somebeach Baron continues to exhibit career-best form, winning one of two $16,000 divisions of the top-level claiming handicap pace on Saturday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
 
Somebeach Baron and driver Anthony Napolitano briefly tucked fourth early in a :26.2 opener, then rushed up to  get the lead near a :54 half, hot fractions even on a hot day. But the tempo didn’t faze the winner, as he went :26.4 down the backstretch to get away from his opposition, then finished out in 1:49, a career best by over a second. Marta Piotrow conditions the winner of three of his last four for A Napolitano Racing Inc.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The up-and-coming younger performers attracted the Friday spotlight at Harrah’s Philadelphia, ahead of two consecutive cards with Pennsylvania Sire Stakes races for two-year-olds, with three $12,600 events for the various classifications.
 
The Somebeachsomewhere sophomore colt Literl Lad Hanover, a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes winner earlier this year, got back on the winning track with a lifetime mark of 1:50.4 going wire-to-wire against the pacing males. Driver George Napolitano Jr. put the three-year-old quickly on the lead and hung up splits of :27.1, :55.3, and 1:22.3 while boosting his lifetime earnings to $172,611 for the meet’s leading trainer, Ron Burke, and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby, and Wingfield Five LLC.

​HUGHESVILLE PA – The Pennsylvania fair circuit was glad to get back to racing both two-year-olds and three-year-olds at the Lycoming County Fairgrounds in this northcentral Pennsylvania town near the Little League World Series site of Wiliamsport, since bad weather had cost each stakes class a day of racing  the last two fair stops.
 
The fastest miles on Wednesday’s day for freshmen were in 2:07.1, record, unusually, by a trotting filly, and semi-unusually, by a pacing colt in the “B” division of the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes. Stepping into the spotlight were the Cantab Hall – Celebrity Sweedie miss Shayna Rosa, now 2-for-3 on the fair circuit for trainer/driver Bill Daugherty Jr. and owner Susan Daugherty, and the Sweet Lou – Wide Open colt Wound Tight for his evergreen owner/trainer/driver Roger Hammer.