By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Pyro, who took his lifetime mark at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, returned to one of his favorite tracks, and after paying a high price for the lead the Sweet Lou gelding just kept rolling to win Saturday afternoon’s $17,500 pacing feature in 1:51.
 
Going into the first turn the field resembled the famous “Land Rush for Oklahoma” picture, with seven of the eight horses either trying for the lead or taking back when they realized their prospects for command were slim. Groovy Joe got around Chatelroll just past the :26.4 quarter, then in turned yielded to Pyro, who had taken “Joe”’s cover after a wide start. Pyro was guided by George Napolitano Jr. to fractions of :54.2 and 1:22.4, turning back waves of challengers, then staying 2¾ lengths clear of fellow 8-5 shot Da Delightful, who came up the Pocono Pike in avoiding tiring parked horses. Gilbert Garcia-Herrera trains and owns the winner of $584,723. 
 
There were three $17,000 events for developing horses – two on the trot and one on the pace. The pacing contest, restricted to male horses, went to the Rockin Image gelding The Longest Yard, a shipper from Hoosier Park for trainer Erv Miller, who won in 1:51. Erv’s son Marcus had to swing the sophomore wide to get into contention, but he stormed home in :26.4 to push his earnings to $150,645 for owners Rocco Ruffolo and Douglas Overhiser.
 
The faster trotting co-feature went to Tokyo Seelster, making his first start since late January, but able to capitalize on a pocket trip to catch the favored pacesetter Delgado while equaling his mark of 1:54.3. The victorious son of Kadabra, now with lifetime earnings of $236,247 and owned by Michael and Sam Sergi, was the third successful collaboration between driver Simon Allard and Ron Burke, who enhanced his lead atop the Pocono conditioners standings.
 
Also a co-feature trot winner was Ripple Of Hope, a Creatine gelding who was a pocket rocket to win in 1:56. Marcus Miller handled the driving of the recent invader from The Meadows for owner/trainer Lisa Dunn.
 
Pocono’s perennial winningest driver George Napolitano Jr. had five victories on the Saturday card, narrowing the gap between Matt Kakaley, who just returned after an injury, and himself to 175-167. Simon Allard, trainer Ron Burke, and Marcus Miller, all of whom had feature race winners, accounted for three races each.
 
Crantini, a winner in the first two preliminaries of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-old trotting males, will begin from the rail as he looks to post a third triumph in one of two $75,016 Sire Stakes events On Sunday’s 5 p.m. card at Pocono. There will also be four divisions of Pennsylvania Stallion Series action, which will be of special interest to Pocono punters since the mountain oval will host all eight of the Stallion Series Championship on Labor Day, Monday, September 5. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.
 
And next Saturday, August 20, Pocono will be proud to host the $2 million Sun Stakes Saturday, featuring both top three-year-olds and fast seasoned performers in a card chock full of stakes action.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Komodo Beach, fresh off a win in the Championship of a Kentucky series at Oak Grove, came to Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday afternoon and promptly won the $22,500 handicap pace in 1:48.4, equaling the clocking put up by Let It Ride N in the Open on May’s Super Sunday as the fastest local mile of the year.
 
The four-year-old gelding by Somebeachsomewhere was reserved by Andrew McCarthy off a hot pace, with Ultimaroca grabbing the top from Casual Cool after a :25.4 quarter only to see that one remove to the lead well before the :53.2 half. Casual Cool was still fighting for the lead at the 1:21 three-quarters, as Dragon Said was grinding up first-over, with Komodo Beach right on his back.
 
Dragon Said made the lead around the turn and paced on gamely to the wire, but Komodo Beach had a little more off the cover trip and won by half a length. Noel Daley trains the winner of $382,640 ($151,510 of which has come this year) for Morrison Racing Stables, who purchased the horse outright before the 2022 racing season.
 
Favored P L Ozzy had gained the lead past the :26.4 quarter in the $15,300 co-featured pace and sailed  along through fractions of :55.1 and 1:22 while opening a little distance on the field. Then out of nowhere, the horse went on a break – he may have tried to jump the shadow of a light standard visible on the track before midturn. This event left Meadowlands Pace elimination winner Market Share, who had been sitting in the two-hole, on the lead while also giving the third-in Copper Teen room, and that American Ideal gelding paced off to victory in 1:50.1, lowering his lifetime standard by almost four seconds. Joe Bongiorno guided the $58.20 upsetter for trainer Per Engblom and owners Evan Katz, Frank Canzone, and Joseph Di Scala Jr.
 
Driver Bongiorno had the hot hands at Philly Friday, guiding four winners. Two of them were for the stable of his sister Jenn -- the pair both led their respective percentage tables here last year. Perhaps the double signaled better fortune for Jenn, who since July 30 at Philly/Pocono was only 2 for 16, with many favored horses failing to get the job done, but the stable rebounded strongly today.
 
Sunday’s card will feature a pair of $12,000 paces for the highest-priced claiming horses on the grounds, four races for the American Harness Drivers Club’s amateur horsemen, and a $15,000 guaranteed Pick-5 pool on races five through nine after a carryover of $3512.03 from Friday. Sunday’s racing starts at 12:40 p.m.; program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.  

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
HONESDALE PA – The two-year-old International Moni – Arrowstar trotting colt Action Shot equaled the all-age track trotting mark of 2:02 at the Wayne County Fair in this northeast Pennsylvania city, tying the standard set by Invitational star Shark Kosmos on Wednesday, devoted to babies and proving to be a spectacular card during Honesdale’s “fair meet.”
 
Action Shot had won twice in five starts, including a 2:04 victory at Hughesville, but to tie the all-time standard on the gait as a two-year-old is a very special mile. And it’s interesting that trainer/driver Todd Schadel, co-owner with wife Christine and Rick and Regina Beinhauer, would equal the mark of Shark Kosmos, a horse campaigned by Roger Hammer – because Schadel and Hammer were co-owners of the storied Hambletonian winner Vivid Photo. Also left behind was the previous 2:04.2 divisional standard of Toolbox Tuesday, set in 2006 with trainer/driver … Roger Hammer.
 
Two other local standards were rewritten on Wednesday – one on the same gait, and one by the same sex. The Cantab Hall – Ready Any Time miss Rhiannon Hanover reduced R Speed Of Light’s 2:04.4 trotting filly mark to 2:03.3 for driver Tony Schadel, trainer Syl King Jr., and owners Dr. Scott Leaf and Dr. Michael Ternisky. The Captaintreacherous – Well What’s New pacing colt Captaincountrystar became the first freshman to go in 2:00 at Honesdale by reporting home in even time for 20-year-old driver Cody Schadel and trainer/father Todd, co-owner with Andy Miller Stable Inc. and Wallace Townsend Jr., rewriting the 2:01.1 of Seth Hanover.
 
Cody Schadel came back to turn in by far the fastest mile of the meet, and one ranking within the couple of fastest ever at Honesdale, when he won a division of the free-for-all pace with Terry A Hanover in 1:57.1, a year after that colt tied the local record for sophomores. Alastor Hanover (Hammer) set the 1:56.2 all-time pacing record over the local twicearound in 2010. Cody guided the winner for trainer/father Todd, mother/co-owner Christine Schadel, and co-owner Caitlin Solt. Trainer Karen Fread, who sent out the horse finishing second behind Terry A Hanover, conditions the other FFA winner, Delightful Summer, whom Tony Schadel drove to a 2:03.4 triumph for Crazy Parrot Farm LLC.
 
Also of note Wednesday was the victory of the Betting Line – Goldies Bad Girl pacing filly Rambling Ruby in 2:04, her eighth at the PA fairs, most of any horse, and giving her the North American outright lead for freshman pacing fillies. Trainer/driver Todd Schadel (whom we’re sure you figured out was top horseman at the meet) co-owns Rambling Ruby with Andy Miller Stable Inc., Jean Goehlen, and Bert Hochsprung.
 
After that display of brilliance on Wednesday, the Thursday card for three-year-olds would have to go “the mile of its life” to come close. Not even Buchannon Hanover, who had won all four of his previous PA Fair victories in 2:00 or less, went fast, winning in 2:02 to join stablemate C-Bet Hanover (2:01.4) in sweeping the glamour division pacing colts.
 
The free-for-all trot saw Linda Schadel, usually the trainer of stable horses driven by husband Tony, take a turn in the sulky and win with SVF Cash Deposit in 2:06, just a month after the pair acquired the horse. Honesdale Director Of Racing Jeff Firmstone is to be commended for convincing his board to continuing to sponsor races for the more-seasoned pacers and trotters (and a 1:57.1 mile should help his cause).
 
Before leaving Honesdale, we should point out that driver Branden Smith and trainer Syl King Jr. were “shorted” a victory credit in the last writeup, under bizarre circumstances: their horse crossed the wire third, but the first two finishers each were disqualified in separate incidents, boosting Team Smith/King’s money won from 12% to 50%!
 
…And now the Pennsylvania Fair Circuit really kicks into high gear: there is racing at Arden Downs, the Washington County Fair, on Sunday at 10 a.m. and Monday at 11 a.m., with many of those horses not having to travel far to race at the Dayton Fair on Wednesday and Thursday at noon or at the Somerset County Fair on Thursday at 2 p.m. and Friday at noon. The intense stretch comes to a close at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville (“Boots’s Place”), where there will be racing on Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21st at noon. We’ll have reports after every meet.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – P L Notsonice overcame a not-so-nice journey to win the $22,500 fast-class trotting handicap feature on Wednesday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
$1.7M winner and favorite JL Cruze stormed out of the gate to get early command, and with Yanks Dugout keeping the hole plugged behind him, the winning daughter of Kadabra and driver Corey Callahan were forced to tuck third early while the chalk went to the quarter in :27.2 then got himself a breather to a :57 half. 
 
Midway between that point and the 1:25 three-quarters, Callahan moved P L Notsonice into first-over position, and the mare methodically went about her business, first grinding down JL Cruze and then holding off Yanks Dugout, who had backed out of the pocket to follow her, by 1¼ lengths; JL Cruze lasted for third. P L Notsonice now has grown her lifetime bankroll to $288,155; Steve Brabrook trains the powerful trotter for owners Jaypaul Hoover and Elite Harness Racing LLC, who acquired the mare in January and now have seen her 2022 earnings go over $78,000.
 
Callahan may soon have himself two calls when the top trotters get together at Philly, with the Dejarmbro gelding Star Razor snapping out of the two-hole from behind Epos Ostervang DK’s fractions of :27.4, :56.2, and 1:25 to go right by that one by four lengths en route to taking a new mark of 1:53.3 in a $15,300 trot for developing horses. It may be that Corey, top driver on the day with four victories,  would stick with Star Razor, as brother Shaun trains him and father Nick co-owns him with Yorwollahan Racing Team and Gregory Godsbout. Star Razor was purchased in March, and after this win he has taken two straight, seven of his last eight starts, and eight races on the campaign, good for $74,660.
 
In the $16,200 co-featured fast-class trot, the Bar Hopping gelding Robbie Pev continued his own recent improvement with his third win in his last five starts, this one in 1:54.3. David Miller sat in the pocket with the winner behind pacesetter Swan In Motion’s fractions of :28.1, :57.1, and 1:25.4, then went inside to the passing lane and outfooted the leader home by 1¾ lengths for trainer Jill Roland and owner Bernard O’Brien.
 
Friday will again be the day when Harrah’s Philadelphia will welcome the top fast-class pacers on the local scene, with Komodo Dragon, returning to the area after winning a series final in Kentucky in 1:50, installed as the early morning line favorite in the featured $22,500 handicap pace; there will also be a carryover of $1868.43 into the third race Super Hi-5 bet, and a guaranteed $5000 pool for the Pick-4 bet starting in race one. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.      

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WAYNESBURG PA – The Pennsylvania Harness Fair Circuit came to this borough near the southwestern corner of the state on Tuesday and Wednesday for two days of harness racing at the Greene County Fairgrounds, with the two-year-olds shining brightest of all during their Tuesday racing.
 
Fastest mile of the meet came from the freshman Stay Hungry – Sara Diamond filly Stay Happy, whose 2:01.4 mile came within two-fifths of a second of the 20-year-old divisional track record of My Gal Phyl. Stay Happy already has three victories for driver Mike Wilder, trainer/father-in-law Dan Altmeyer, and owner/mother-in-law Ruth Altmeyer.
 
Wilder and Dan Altmeyer also combined to win with the fastest baby pacing colt of the meet, Lou On The Beach (Sweet Lou – Rockn On The Beach), who after his 2:03.1 triumph has four victories for the ownership of Diamond Club Racing and David Wills.
 
Fastest two-year-old trotter was the Fordham Road – The Yankees Win colt Battin A Thousand, home in 2:06.4 for driver/trainer/owner Roger Hammer. (More on Hammer a little later.)
 
Wednesday’s three-year-old action produced many moderate getaways that speeded up as the action got nearer to home, and thus the fastest mile was 2:04, produced by three horses – including, notably, two on the trot. Ladies first, so the distaff was the Better Caviar filly Caviar On Broadway for trainer/driver Dave Wade and his partners Gerald Brittingham and William Peel III; her male counterpart was the Winning Mister gelding Ice Breakers K for driver Hugh O’Neill and owner/trainer Rich Gillock.
 
Gillock also trains the meet’s fastest sophomore pacer, the Always B Miki filly, Jillian B Miki, whom Steve Schoeffel guided to her sixth win of the year for Gillock and co-owner Tye Loy.
 
The race for bragging rights among horsemen was quite competitive: Steve Schoeffel had five sulky victories, one more than Wayne Long, while Long and Jason Shaw shared the crown on the training side with four wins. Enjoying success at a Pennsylvania fair for the first time in recent memory, if not ever, was the well-traveled Mississippian Ronnie Gillespie, who has a .480+ UDR while racing heavily on the Ohio fair circuit this year.
 
Hammer won twice at Waynesburg on Tuesday – and he won at Honesdale during their “first meet” this past weekend, and he’s in to go for the second day of their “second meet” during Thursday's fair. (That’s 347 miles one way; good thing the 76-years-young Hammer thrives on the competition.) A full report on the Honesdale second meet will follow at the end of their current stand.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – An Adios Pace finalist defeated “Team Oaks” and a Meadowlands Pace finalist in the $14,400 featured pace at Harrah’s Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon, as Quick Snap won in 1:51.4 over Jo Pa’s Warrior and PJ Lou.
 
The three three-year-olds received the overwhelming amount of crowd support, with the 6-5 favorite PJ Lou (Andy Miller/Mark Harder) going right to the lead in a :27 opener, the 3-2 Jo Pa’s Warrior (Tim Tetrick/Jim Campbell) settliing in the pocket and 2-1 Quick Snap (Todd McCarthy/Tony Alagna) tucking fourth from post seven in the eight-horse field. PJ Lou took the field past the half in :55.4, at which point the Betting Line colt Quick Snap started an uncovered grind, with Jo Pa’s Warrior in close attendance in the two-hole through and past the 1:23.4 three-quarters.
 
In the stretch Quick Snap exerted his authority, winning by a neck over the inside charge of Jo Pa’s Warrior, with PJ Lou finishing third. The winner, who took his mark of 1:50 here at Philly, is now four for seven on the year and developing nicely for Alagna and the partnership of Let It Ride Stables, Bottom Line Racing, M T Pockets Stables, and Alagna Racing.
 
The day started off with a shocker – which really shouldn’t have been that much of a shocker. The Captaintreacherous gelding Gumption took a field wire-to-wire in an $11,200 pace, winning in a lifetime-equaling best 1:49.2 and returning $117.60 to win for driver Anthony Morgan and trainer Chris Temming. The mutuels were the shocking part – as on July 3 Gumption had won at this very level and paid $73.00, making the only two-time longshot “bomber” ($50+) of the year at Philly. Morgan and Temming were his backing team that day, too – Morgan now has four $50 wins and a $100 win at the meet, which happens to exactly match the stats of driver Trae Porter, now with him at the top of those categories, while Temming now joins Jacob Hartline and Adrian Wisher as the only conditioners with double bombers.
 
David Miller likes driving at Philly on Wednesdays. After recording four wins here a week ago, the leading active moneywinning driver rang up five more successes during this Wednesday’s program.
 
“Trottin’ Thursday” will again feature at Harrah’s Philadelphia Thursday, with JL Cruze and Yanks Dugout likely to attract the most attention in the $22,500 handicap fast-class feature. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.     

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Tom Jackson recorded the 5000th victory of his driving career when he brought home the Trixton – Angel Eyes Hanover freshman Saint Trixie to victory in the fourth race at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Jackson and trainer Fred Grant have had outstanding success for two-year-old trotting fillies over the last few weeks, and here Saint Trixie was recording her second straight triumph, sitting in the pocket then rallying to a new mark of 1:56.4 over sloppy going for Jackson and Grant.
 
It’s hard to believe that the youthful-looking Jackson, 59, is in his sixth decade of driving, but he began his career in 1979 (when his sulky appearances accounted for purses of $607). He was a leading driver in his native state of Maryland before making the move to Pennsylvania when the purses grew with the introduction of further gaming, and he has been a mainstay of the local horsemen’s community since, with some wintering in Florida. Jackson’s USTA record also shows him with 488 training wins, although he likely had quite a few more before trainers’ records were started by the USTA in 1991.
 
Tom followed his father Hubert into the harness business; Hubert, known as the “King of Queen Anne” because of his Maryland birthplace, was one of the top horsemen on the Delmarva peninsula, recording over 1000 wins in the USTA computer although he almost certainly had many more that have gone unrecorded. After winning with a two-year-old in 1:58 in June a few years ago, Tom was asked what he thought Hubert might say about going so fast with a baby, and Tom replied, “He probably would have handed me a pitchfork, pointed me to the barn, and told me not to come out for a month.” 
 
Pocono’s leading driver, Matt Kakaley, also had a “milestone win” of sorts – he drove his first winner since being injured in a racing accident here on July 26, putting a new mark of 1:57 (track updated to “good”) on The American Eagle. (He would later add a second win with another trotter, Say You Do, in 1:55.) Matt had a 177-160 edge in wins over perennial Pocono leader George Napolitano Jr. as of the start of the Tuesday action. (Scott Zeron, injured more seriously in the accident, was in good spirits on the Hambletonian broadcast this past Saturday, and has a tentative timetable of recovery.)
 
Racing resumes at Pocono on Saturday with a 1:30 card; program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. A week from this Saturday, August 20, Pocono will be hosting many of the champions of North American harness racing during Sun Stakes Saturday, a day offering in the neighborhood of $2 million in purses, with several levels on racing for all of the top three-year-olds, along with a fast-class event for seasoned performers on each gait.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Dribbling Bi established early command in the $15,000 trotting feature on Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, then kept the lead to the wire while lowering his mark to 1:56.
 
The sophomore Cantab Hall gelding was three-wide early as Argento to his immediate inside made the lead on the first turn, then went up in the two-path to take over the racetrack before the :27.4 quarter. Trainer/driver Jeff Gregory was able to give the favored three-year-old a breather to the half, reached in :58, then accelerated the throttle as second choice In A Tiny Way started up to challenge towards the 1:26.4 three-quarters. In A Tiny Way proceeded on gamely, but it was Argento who gave Dribbling Bi the hardest time in stretch, scoring over the potential pocket rocket by half a length, with In A Tiny Way another neck back in third. Jeff Gregory Inc. and Jesmeral Stable share ownership of the winner.
 
Marcus Miller had four winners on the day, two for trainer/father Erv Miller. Steve Smith guided three horses home first, all trotters, and two for trainer Karen Garland.
 
The Pocono racing week ends Tuesday afternoon at 1:30; program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. The track has plans for Saturday, August 20 in high gear, as many of North America’s top horses will be coming to town for the $2 million Sun Stakes Saturday, the main features being rich stakes events for all four divisions of three-year-olds, plus an Invitational on each gait for the fastest older horses.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
HONESDALE PA – Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes rules allow for a set of PaFSS races at every fair applying and qualifying, along with five “two-day Sire Stakes events” away from the actual fair dates. The Wayne County Fairgrounds in this northeastern Pennsylvania city has harnessed both possibilities together, with the 2-day meet having been held this past Saturday and Sunday, and the fair event to be held this Wednesday and Thursday.
 
Sunday was for the three-year-olds, and the big story continued to be the speed of Buchannon Hanover, an Always B Miki colt who won in 2:00 for the fastest time of the meet and also his fourth win in 2:00 or less on the twice-around circuit – as many as all other horses combined, with no other horse having more than one such credit. Buchannon Hanover was driven and is trained by Todd Schadel, who has been Buchannon’s human parallel at the fairs thus far, and owned by Todd and his wife Christine.
 
On the pacing filly side, Bettor Strait N Up was both last year’s leading pointwinner during the fair season and the winner of her Fair Championship, and so far she has given solid indication that she would like to earn those distinctions again at three. Her 2:02.2 win gives the daughter of Betting Line four victories and two seconds in six fair starts for the ownership team of trainer Linda and driver Tony Schadel.
 
Todd Schadel also had two headliners on the trot among the sophomores: the Explosive Matter miss Heart Matters, first three-year-old to reach five fair wins for the Schadels and Rick and Regina Beinhauer after a 2:06.2 win, and Big Ben Hanover, the Andover Hall colt the fastest trotter of this meet in 2:03.3.
 
On Saturday, the two-year-old Betting Line – Goldies Bad Girl filly Rambling Ruby, at that point the only PA Fairs competitor to reach five wins, made it six triumphs on the cotton candy circuit after a 2:02.4 success for Andy Miller Stable Inc., Jean Goehlen, and Bert Hochsprung; Todd Schadel is the filly’s trainer/driver.
 
Fastest two-year-old overall was another offspring of Betting Line, the gelding Rusty Beach (dam Parlee Beach), who broke his maiden in very fine fashion with a 2:01.1 victory. Trainer Richard Dunn is also the co-owner of Rusty Beach with MBC Stables LLC, and Eric Neal had the winning catch-drive behind the promising youngster.
 
No points for guessing the short meet’s top driver and trainer. Tony Schadel had three sulky successes and Dave Brickell two; doubling as trainers were Syl King Jr., Linda Schadel, and Mitchell York – who would follow his Honesdale Sunday victory in seven and a half hours with Annapolis Hanover, who won a division of a Pennsylvania Sire Stake pari-mutuel division at Pocono. Annapolis Hanover, a Stay Hungry – All Night Long gelding, went into that race off a track record 1:59.1 for baby pacing colts at Silver Springs Ranch ten days earlier.
 
The Fair Circuit will conduct midweek racing at two fairgrounds about as far apart from each other as you can go and stay within Pennsylvania – 347 miles. The Greene County Fair in Waynesburg will have racing on Tuesday and Wednesday at noon, while the trotters and pacers return to Honesdale for their fair meet, with racing on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and on Thursday at noon.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Sire Stay Hungry swept the two third preliminary round divisions of the $162,620 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-old pacing colts at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and both divisions were clocked in 1:51.3 over sloppy going.
 
The colt Lyons Surfing capped a big stakes night for driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Jim King Jr. when he was up for a nose victory in one division. Lyons Surfing tucked fifth from post seven in a field of eight as favored Bugaboo Lou made the early lead by the :27 quarter, yielded to previous PaSS winner Ken Hanover then reclaimed the lead before a :56 half. Lyons Surfing had to come first-over, but in pacing a :54.3 individual last half he had gotten close to the lead by the 1:23.4 three-quarters and then just kept coming gamely, working to defeat the Pocono Pike-shooting Ken Hanover by the tightest of margins; Bugaboo Lou had an excuse in finishing third, three-quarters of a length back, in that he returned with broken equipment.
 
The win was the second straight for Lyons Surfing, after a victory in a division of the Arden Downs on Adios Day. The freshman, whose dam is Surfside Sexy, is owned by Threelyonsracing.
 
The other division matched Ervin Hanover, the only double winner in the first two PaSS legs, against two other previous Sires winners and a double Stallion Series winner, and it was won by the gelding Annapolis Hanover (dam All Night Long), who won his fourth straight race, a streak that now includes two pari-mutuel Sire Stakes legs. Annapolis Hanover was three-wide through a hot :26.4 quarter, with Ervin Hanover inside and Fulton between horses, and then followed Fulton on to the lead under David Miller’s guidance before a half in :55.3. The swift early action took some steam out of his two early foes, but Annapolis Hanover stayed on and withstood the first-over bid of Stay Grounded through and past the 1:23.4 three-quarters and prevailed by 1¼ lengths.
 
Annapolis Hanover now has six wins in eight starts, and equaled his mark. He is owned and trained by Mitchell York, a retired PA State Trooper, who in the afternoon won a stakes race at the nearby Honesdale (PA) Fair – but this victory was approximately 29 times more lucrative.
 
Tetrick would win three of the five $20,000 companion Stallion Series races, including guiding another Stay Hungry gelding, Dempsey Hanover (dam Deer Valley Miss), to a 1:55.2 victory to make him the only three-time winner in the Pennsylvania Stakes program winner on either pari-mutuel side. Dempsey Hanover got a soft :58.2 half on the lead, but he still had to fight hard to ward off the railshooting Major Decision by a neck for trainer Todd Luther and Black Magic Racing LLC.
 
Two other Stallion Series divisions fell to Team Tetrick/King with sons of Captaintreacherous: the gelding Secret Captain (dam Dark Secret), who took his second straight StS race in a lifetime best 1:53.2 for owner Jo Ann Looney-King; and another for the ownership of Threelyonsracing, the colt Lyons Spirit (dam Southwind Serenity), who also became a double Stallion Series winner with a 1:55.1 mile, pacing two :27.2 back quarters uncovered in impressive style.
 
A third StS winning son of Captaintreacherous paced the fastest time of the five sections, as the gelding Quixote (dam Love Canal) paced his own third quarter in :27.2 to charge from fourth to first, then tacked on a :27.4 kicker to lower his mark to 1:52.4 for driver David Miller and trainer Nifty Norman, the latter co-owner with Let It Ride Cooper Stables, Bottom Line Racing LLC, and Howard Taylor. Quixote has now won Stallion Series races in his only two career starts.
 
The other StS section was taken by the longest-priced winner of the entire night, 6-1 shot Just Bet It All, a Betting Line – Just Fine gelding, who was yet another first-over winner, taking a maiden mark of 1:54 for driver Mark MacDonald, trainer Linda Toscano, and the ownership of West Wins Stable, Calhoun Racing LTD, Pit Bull Stable LLC, and Mac Nichol.
 
There will be 1:30 afternoon cards on Monday and Tuesday at Pocono; program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.