By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Explosive Matter mare Pat Matters has now won three straight and has taken five out of six since joining the Nifty Norman stable after she won the $21,500 featured trot at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Sunday evening.
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Pat Matters, owned by the Patricia Stable, was sent right to the top by driver Eric Goodell, and then the second choice yielded to favored Scirocco Rob near the :27.4 quarter. Scirocco Rob, also going for his third straight, put up middle fractions of :56.2 and 1:24.2, but Pat Matters was taken to the outside by Goodell midway on the far turn, and the mare proved full of trot, with fast-closing Whats The Word moving well late but still a neck shy of the winner on the wire. The time of the mile was 1:52.2 – the third straight race Pat Matters has been timed in that clocking, her personal best.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The fall stakes season at Harrah’s Philadelphia began on Sunday with four $30,000 divisions of the John Simpson Memorial Stake for three-year-old colts on both gaits.
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Longtime Yonkers stalwart Jason Bartlett came to Philly on Sunday and won four races, three of them in stakes company. Two of the stakes triumphs came on the trot, including the fastest winner of the quartet, the Trixton colt Alternative Fact, who lowered his mark to 1:53.3 while notching his fourth straight win. Alternative Fact parked favored Explosivebreakaway a long way before yielding the lead, then rallied from the pocket to record a 1¼ length win over the pacesetter for trainer Ray Schnittker, who is also co-owner with Steven Arnold and Joe Sbrocco. In this race Steuben Hanover was interfered with just before the start and had all money wagered on him refunded.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The nine-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding Scott Rocks returned to his “hometown” track of The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday night and won the $21,500 featured pace in 1:49.3 – the 58th win of his career, and his 30th victory at Pocono over the years.
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George Napolitano Jr. left sharply with Scott Rocks, let Anythingforlove A get to the lead by the :26.3 quarter, then made a lead-reclaiming move right away. When the timer read “:55.4” to the half, the local faithful knew that the favored veteran would be tough to overhaul, and indeed Scott Rocks rolled a :27 third quarter as Our Max Phactor N moved up to challenge, then tacked on a :26.4 kicker to keep that rival safe to the line by a length. Hunter Oakes trains the iron horse for the Northfork Racing Stable and Chuck Pompey.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – A pair of $16,000 featured events on the Friday afternoon card at Harrah’s Philadelphia saw Ilana Z Tam take a lifetime mark of 1:52 in the contest for pacing mares and Consus Victory earn a new 1:55.1 speed badge in a trotting race.
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The Bettor’s Delight mare Ilana Z Tam was away third behind Odds On Clearwater and favored Tarryn A Strip, and with no outside tier advancing the winner could wait inside until late in the backstretch to go after the leader. Ilana Z Tam quickly made the front on the far turn, with Tarryn A Strip backing out to follow her, but she could not catch winner in the lane, coming up two lengths short. Trainer/driver Pat Lachance also co-owns the victorious distaff with Z Tam Stables LLC.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Mississippi Storm, advancing without cover through the last half, wore down pacesetter Muscle M Up late to win the $17,500 trotting feature in 1:53.3 on Thursday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Crazy About Pat, going for his third straight win, was out on his second move to the top nearing the :27.3 quarter, made the lead, then yielded to Muscle M Up, who had been limbed with cover from the outside post eight until “Pat” cleared, nearing the second turn, with the half accomplished in :56.2.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Despite an absence from racing of 33 days, the Cantab Hall gelding Final Dream showed he was ready for his opposition in the $16,000 trotting feature on the Wednesday afternoon card at Harrah’s Philadelphia, going by late to post a 1:56.2 victory.
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Driver George Napolitano Jr. positioned Final Dream in a lively outside flow, followed cover to the stretch, then tipped wide to catch Miss You Kelly in deep stretch and go on to a one length success for trainer Christie Collins and owner Howard Jacobs.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Armbro Operative mare Dont Think Twice A became the first favorite to win during the Tuesday twilight card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, using the Pocono Pike to take both the tenth race $21,500 featured pace for mares and a new mark of 1:51.1.

Despite an absence from the races of 18 days, the winner started well and got the pocket spot behind pacesetting Baron Remy as that one cut fractions of :27.1, :55.4, and 1:23.4, with Dont Think Twice A getting the perfect trip in the two-hole. Driver Anthony Napolitano didn’t have to think twice about pulling on his mare’s left line when the inside lane came clear, and the winner outfooted Baron Remy by a half-length for trainer Andrew Harris and the ownership of Michael Goldberg Racing LLC and A Harris Racing LLC.
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Pilgrims Lass enjoyed the drop from stakes company and showed that appreciation by recording her first win of the season in a $15,000 co-featured trot. The Muscle Mass filly, trained by Scott Andrews for owner Edward Andrews, made the early lead for Matt Kakaley, yielded at the quarter to sit the pocket behind Bag O Chips, then came out in the stretch to catch that one by ¾ of a length while reducing her lifetime best to 1:55.3.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
HARRISBURG PA – The Harness Racing Bureau of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission has compiled the top pointearners in each of the eight divisions raced in the Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes series summer the summer during twenty stops among the state’s half-mile ovals. The highest earners of points to declare in on Tuesday, October 1 at The Meadows will get to compete for $25,000 at the western Pennsylvania oval in their respective Fair Sire Stakes Championships on Saturday, October 5.
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The horses who earn the most points in each of the eight divisions of competition (two and three-year-olds, trotters and pacers, male and female) also get the reward of a cooler, lettered with their accomplishment and fashioned in the stable’s colors. These banquets are annually given at the Fair Banquet, and these horses will be honored on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the Bedford Springs (PA) Omni Hotel and Resort.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The leading driver at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, both at this meet and in the history of the track, George Napolitano Jr., won five races on the Monday twilight card. The quintet raises his seasonal total to 269 at the mountain oval, 98 ahead of his brother Anthony, who is second in the standings.

Completing the five-bagger for “George Nap” was the Delmarvalous gelding Nine Ways, who took an $11,000 pace in 1:51.2, putting up fractions of :27.2, :55.4, and 1:23.2 and then holding off a horde of closers without too much problem for owner/trainer Antonia Storer. Nine Ways had raced at Pocono earlier in the season, taking his lifetime mark of 1:50, then went to Running Aces in Minnesota and won seven straight feature races, including the track’s $50,000 Dan Patch Free-For-All Pace final. He made his return start at Pocono a successful one on Monday.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Favored Scirocco Rob sat behind second choice Whats The Word for most of the $17,500 trotting feature on Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, then moved out in the stretch and got by that tough rival by a half-length in 1:52.1, just a tick off his lifetime mark.
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Whats The Word buzzed away right to the lead, while the looped Scirocco Rob made his way to the pocket before the lively :26.3 quarter. The pacesetter went on to middle fractions of :55.3 and 1:23.4, with the winning Explosive Matter gelding coming outside for the stretch drive as the top two drew away from the rest. Scirocco Rob went by his game but outtrotted foe late, with George Napolitano Jr. getting his fourth win of the night for trainer Mark Silva and owners Kathleen and Lewis Whitaker Jr.