By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA --- Marcus Miller drove the winners of both $13,000 featured paces on Tuesday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, en route to leading all the horsemen at the mountain oval on the day with three total triumphs.
 
First up was the Captaintreacherous sophomore gelding Captain Cook, who won for the third time in his last six starts with a 1:53.1 pacesetting victory. Captain Cook strung the field out through big fractions of :28.3, :57.2, and 1:24.4 on a cool and windy day, then held together to turn back co 2-1 shot Play The Ace (the chart defaults favoritism to the horse with the innermost post when two go off at exactly the same odds,  but Captain Cook had $2 more bet on him to win) by 1¼ lengths for trainer Bruce Clarke, co-owner with Patricia Waldeck.
 
Marcus returned in the other featured race with a three-year-old Betting Line gelding trained by his father Erv, Bet Eighthirtyone. The sophomore, the 5-2 second choice, proved to be a pocket rocket, sitting in the two-hole behind Greystone Watchman, who was let go at 8-1 despite winning in this company in his last start and set fractions of :27.3, :57.1, and 1:25, and the two battled hard before Bet Eightthirtyone was able to get home first by a half-length in 1:53.4 for owner D R Van Witzenburg.
 
Pennsylvania’s own Bret Michaels, famous musician as a single act and as the frontman for the band Poison, will appear in concert at Pocono on Friday night, and to allow for proper cleanup after the event, the card on Saturday at the mountain oval will begin at 3 p.m. Featured will be a $25,000 fast-class pace headed by Ruthless Hanover, coming off a 1:50 win at Philly after settling the mindboggling fractions of :25, :51.4 and 1:19.1 when Allywag Hanover recently tied Wiggle It Jiggleit’s track record of 1:47.3 there. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Two of last year’s most impressive two-year-olds were in qualifying action on Tuesday morning at Harrah’s Philadelphia – one won impressively, while the other had a useful tightener.
 
The millionaire filly Venerable, one year and two days after her victory over colts in the Mohawk Million, won by 12½ lengths in 1:55.1 after fractions of :28.4, :58.4, and 1:26.4 for driver David Miller, trainer Nifty Norman, and the ownership of David Mc Duffee, Melvin Hartman, Paul Bordogna, and Steven Arnold. After going nine-for-eleven as a freshman and capturing her divisional honors, the Walner filly had won a New Jersey Sire Stake, the Zweig Consolation, and a Hambo Oaks elimination this year, but has been missing from the racing scene since two breaking outings in early August.
 
The Captaintreacherous gelding Hammering Hank won three legs and the final of the Kindergarten at two and was 2-4 in his Breeders Crown starts; this year he posted a third in a Pennsylvania Sire Stake and a second in a Messenger elimination before being scratched on July 9 and not gathering a racing line since. In the qualifier, he got away last and finished in :57.1, perhaps the start of a rebound for trainer/driver father/son Brett and Jack Pelling.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono featured a quartet of $15,000 contests for up-and-coming horses on its Tuesday afternoon card, with a strong stretch headwind reflected in many of the races’ fractions and racing styles.
 
An event for male pacers saw the Sweet Lou sophomore gelding Stonebridge Karis win for the third time in his last four starts, here in 1:52.4. Driven by Jim Pantaleano, the day’s top sulkysitter with three victories, Stonebridge Karis took command in a :27.3 quarter, backed off the half to :57.4, then went the third quarter, wind-aided, in :26.4, hitting the three-quarters in 1:24.2 to hold off a spirited challenge from the outer tier, and then finishing 1¾ lengths clear for trainer Darren Taneyhill and owner Eric Prevost.
 
The other pace for males went to Lenda Hand Man, an American Ideal altered three-year-old, who won in a new mark of 1:53.4 for trainer Jennifer Bongiorno and owner Robert Weinstein. George Napolitano Jr., coming off eight successes while driving at Philly the day before, secured the pocket early with Lenda Hand Man, backed him out behind State Senator as that uncovered challenger took the lead on the far turn, and then outfinished the new leader by a length. 
 
When the female pacers had their turn in the sun, the Betting Line mare Paulas Bet Hanover, after racing most of the mile in the pocket, proved more photogenic late than pacesetter Bette Tina, who came up a neck shy in the 1:55.3 mile. Michael Whelan drove the winner of $214,214 for trainer Walter Whelan and owner Christopher Nicol.
 
The fourth feature was held on the trot, and it was won by the Father Patrick sophomore gelding Torrone in 1:56.2. The front-end style that had brought George Napolitano Jr. six of his eight wins Sunday at Philly served him and his horse well again here, with By A Hoff Hanover rallying but still coming up short by three-quarters of a length. The long-united backing team of trainer Tom Fanning and owner Joseph Smith saw their three-year-old push his earnings to $110,822.
 
Pocono finishes out the week’s racing schedule on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Pennsylvania’s own Bret Michaels, famous musician as a single act and as the frontman for the band Poison, will appear in concert at Pocono on Friday night, and to allow for proper cleanup after the event, the card on Saturday at the mountain oval will begin at 3 p.m. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
MEADVILLE PA -- The 2022 Pennsylvania Fair Harness Racing Circuit came to a sudden and soggy conclusion, as constant soaking rain in the northwest Pennsylvania area made the Crawford County Fairgrounds track in Meadville unraceable for both Monday and Tuesday, cancelling the final stop of the season.

The PA Fair Circuit had lost only part of one card, five races, to weather previous to this, at Wattsburg, which makes this cancellation even more disappointing.

The horses to be eligible for their individual $25,000 Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championships on Friday, October 7 at The Meadows will be determined by the points earned to date, plus 9 points added to the record of any horse entered at Meadville, per PaFSS rules. 

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The pacing female specialists, Team Tetrick / King, won both $30,000 divisions of the Liberty Bell stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, while a pair of sons of Captaintreacherous were victorious in the two sections of the stakes for their colt counterparts, as the Liberty Bell stakes completed a four-day “mini-Grand Circuit” at Philly.
 
Beyond that, George Napolitano Jr. won just about anything else on Sunday.
 
The 56-year-old Napolitano, sixth in the 2022 drivers win statistics and sixth all-time among active North American drivers with 11487 victories, won eight races on the Sunday card at Philly, where a mid-program rain didn’t change the track from a “fast” condition but did slow down some of the later races. Nothing or no one slowed Napolitano down, though, as at one point he won seven out of eight races while jumping to fourth in the seasonal sulky standings at Philly. His numbers for the day were 14-8-3-1-.714 while going over $1 million for the local 2022 season, and he had a second at 12-1 and a third in three stakes drives as well.
 
And the afternoon was vintage “George Nap”: seven of his winners came behind favorites, one behind a second choice; six of his winners traveled the front-end, and two rallied from the pocket.
 
Napolitano’s stakes second came with the filly Lydeo behind Captain Cowgirl, who lived up to her 1-20 backing with a four-length tally in 1:53.4 in her Liberty Bell section. The daughter of Captaintreacherous boosted her record to 6-for-9 and $318,804 this campaign and 11-for-18 and $569,875 lifetime for driver Tim Tetrick, trainer Jim King Jr., and owners Jo-Ann Looney King and Kenneth Frieder. The “Cowgirl” continues to hold her form after her recordsetting Sire Stakes season, when she became the first pacer ever to win both her preliminary point crown and her Sire Stakes Championship at both two and three, and her PaSS earnings of $264,374 were the most ever by a sophomore.
 
Tetrick / King also won the other filly section with the Sweet Lou mare Lyons Serenity, who had made breaks in her last two, and so Tetrick let her ramble early and she bottomed out the field, staying a half-length to the good of Heartbreak Hotel after that one menaced late in 1:51.3 before the rain came. Threelyonsracing owns the career earner of $305,064.
 
To add to his filly victory, Captaintreacherous got both siring credits in the Liberty Bell races for the misses’ male counterparts. Before the rain, it was the colt Captain Cowboy (yes, a Cowboy and a Cowgirl both won), rallying up the inside for a half-length win over Code Cracker in 1:51.4 for trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt, who co-owns the winner of $251,194 with Little E LLC and PCW Racing LLC. 
 
An altered son of “The Captain” won his stake section, also going in 1:51.4, and Energetic Hanover may have had an even-better mile in that it rained hard during his race, and he had to overcome the tough first-over trip. The aptly-named “Energetic” still won by 1¾ lengths over Unsung Hero to raise his bankroll to $111,099 for the father/son team of trainer Brett and driver Jack Pelling and the partnership of David Mc Duffee, Melvin Hartman, Steven Arnold, and Paul Bordogna.
 
Harrah’s Philly is currently racing on Thursdays and Fridays at 12:25 and Sundays at 12:40; Thursday’s action will feature a $22,500 handicap trot for seasoned fast-class performers. Program pages are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.   

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
BLOOMSBURG PA – The Pennsylvania county fair circuit made its next-to-last stop of the season in this “college town” in northeast Pennsylvania, and while you usually don’t see the phrase “temperatures in the mid-50s” in a county fair harness racing report, that’s exactly what confronted the two-year-olds on Friday (most racing in that climate for the first time) and the three-year-olds on Saturday. Though fast clockings were not prevalent, excellent racing by talented performers surely was in evidence.
 
The fastest time among the Friday freshmen, 2:00.4, came from an unusual source and also from the most likely source of all. The unlikely source was not really the filly in question, the Always B Miki – Hilarious Heyday miss Miss Hanna Hunter, who won for the eighth time this year for driver Wayne Long and trainer/owner Bill Kreutzer, but that her swift victory came in a “B” division of the Fair Sire Stakes!
 
The likely source also won for the eighth time – the Captaintreacherous – Well’s What New gelding Captaincountrystar, who has all of his wins at the “A” level, five of them in a row and four overall in 2:00 or less, as he tallied for trainer/driver Todd Schadel, co-owner with Andy Miller Stable Inc. and Wallace Townsend Jr.
 
The fastest freshman trotter also reported home first for the eighth time of the fair campaign – the Sebastian K S – By A Nose Hanover filly Dancinwiththangels, in her case her sixth consecutive fair victory, in 2:02.2 for trainer/driver Todd Schadel, co-owner with his wife Christine.
 
On Saturday, a three-year-old colt pacer did turn in a magic mile in the cool climate. That would be the Betting Line colt Aladdin Hanover, the fastest at the PA fairs this season with a 1:56.2 all-age track record at Hughesville, who went here in 2:00 for driver Jack Killeen, trainer Jason Shaw and his son/the horse’s owner Mason.
 
The “other” winner in the colt “A” ranks also deserves a mention, as Buchannon Hanover, who won in 2:02.4 (thus not adding to his lead of six 2:00 miles at the PA fairs), recorded his circuit-high eleventh victory of the season, which is also the length of his current winning streak on the cotton candy circuit for Todd and Christine Schadel. 
 
Buchannon Hanover now has the outright lead in this category as his stablemate Heart Matters, a trotting filly who had visited Victory Lane in all of her first ten starts on the twicearound trail, settled for third behind the Southwind Frank miss Till Im Gone, who won for this first time in “A” company this year and enhanced her chances to make her Championship final with a victory in 2:03, quickest among the sophomore diamondgaiters, for driver Wayne Long, trainer Bob Rougeaux III, and Brocious Racing Stable Inc.
 
The three-year-old pacing filly Bettor Strait N Up clinched her divisional points crown with a victory for the team of driver Tony and trainer Linda Schadel – of importance because no fair horse has ever won her or his points title and Championship at both two and three, and now the daughter of Betting Line now has three pieces of the puzzle to her credit.
 
Wayne Long drove three winners each day of the meet to take the drivers championship by one over Eric Neal, who was perfect in four drives Saturday, and Todd Schadel. All of Todd’s winners came from his own barn, who allowed him to edge by one conditioners Wayne Long, who had two each day, and Bob Krenitsky Jr., who had a training triple on Saturday.
 
The Pennsylvania fair circuit sets up shop for the final time in 2022 at the Crawford County Fair in Meadville PA, with racing on Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m. Two divisional pointleaders will be decided there, both of the trotting colt sections, and many horses will be looking to put in top performances to enable them to reach or have a chance to reach, or stay sharp for, their $25,000 Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championship, to be held on Friday, October 7 at The Meadows.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Crystal Fashion, winner of the 2018 Beal Memorial at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, continued a streak of winning at the mountain track every year since age two when he won the $17,500 featured trot here on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Cantab Hall gelding raced in the pocket, the best place to be at Pocono on this day (winning half the fourteen races), through fractions of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:24.4, then was moved outside by driver George Napolitano Jr. midturn and easily took over, crossing the wire first by 2½ lengths in 1:53.2. The veteran earned most of his $2,173,749 lifetime bankroll for Fashion Farms LLC, but trainer Chuck Crissman Jr. and EVM Racing LLC look like they have a horse who will continue to add to that lofty total off the solid form shown during his current two-race win streak.
 
An even faster trotting mile, 1:52.2, was put up by Eurobond, the veteran son of Love You, who was parked past the half before getting the lead for driver Matt Kakaley but still drew off through the last quarter while winning the $14,500 contest for trainer Travis Alexander and Morrison Racing Stables.
 
On the pacing side, the $17,500 top event produced a 10-1 upset winner in the Betterthancheddar gelding Parmesan N. Anthony Napolitano kept his charge third-inside most of the mile as favored Carlisimo moved to the lead past a :26.4 quarter and put up midsplits of :56.1 and 1:23.3, then swung Parmesan N wide and caught the pacesetting chalk by a neck after a hard-fought battle in the 1:51.1 mile. Michael Deters trains the winner for himself and partners Joel Warner, Lawrence Barnett, and John Spindler.
 
The meet’s leading driver, Matt Kakaley, came home first five times on the card, three times sitting behind the pacesetter and twice sitting behind the horse in the two-hole.
 
Pocono will be racing this Monday and Tuesday afternoons at 1:30; the card for next Saturday, October 1, will change from the Pocono norm by beginning at 3 p.m. after a concert here the night before. . Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The combination of owner Russell Williams, trainer Fred Grant, and driver Tom Jackson have been having a smashing year basing out of The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and on Friday the trio shipped the Bar Hopping filly Luisella 100 miles south to Harrah’s Philadelphia and won the single $56,250 division of the Liberty Bell stake for three-year-old trotting fillies.
 
Jackson had Luisella, the race favorite, out and moving around the early leaders by the :28 quarter, reached the lead and put up splits of :57.1 and 1:25.1, and then coasted home by three lengths in 1:54.1 as temperatures changed to what you’d expect from the first day of fall. Luisella now has six wins and five seconds (one in her Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final) in twelve starts and seasonal earnings of $193,884.
 
There were also three $30,000 divisions of a Liberty Bell stake for two-year-old pacing colts, with all three divisions won by chalk coming home in :55.1 after pacesetting duties. Fastest was the Stay Hungry – Surfside Sexy colt Lyons Surfing, who seemed to know he was Tim Tetrick’s last drive before the pilot took off for Indiana, as he won by 12¼ lengths in 1:51.2, lowering his record by a tick while raising his earnings to $109,887 for trainer Jim King Jr. and Threelyonsracing.
 
The Captaintreacherous – K J’s Justine colt Ken Hanover also lowered his mark in his division, finishing 2½ lengths to the good in 1:52. Ken Hanover, who has now earned $127,284, was driven by Montrell Teague for trainer Rollie Mallar, co-owner with Patrick Leavitt, William Jordan, and Dennis Osterholt.
 
The other divisional winner was his group’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion, the Heston Blue Chip – Bettor B Steamin colt Fulton, who got to loaf to the half, then needed to sprint home to hold off pocketsitter Sir Issac Newton by a neck in 1:53.4. Linda Toscano conditions the winner of $247,917 for Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Bottom Line Racing LLC.
 
Fulton was driven by Corey Callahan, who recorded five winners at Philly for the second straight day. Included in Callahan’s quintet was the Betsy Ross winner Majorca N, victorious in 1:51.3 for trainer Dylan Davis, co-owner with Michael Casalino Jr., as the daughter of Art Major won the $22,500 distaff pace handicap to boost her seasonal win total to nine and her bankroll to $217,010.
 
All of the winning horses in this story, including this next one, were favored in their races, and all of them used engine tactics except for the American Ideal gelding Copper Teen – his method of victory was a :26 rush with the wind down the backstretch to win handily in a $15,300 pace in a lifetime best of 1:49.1 for Callahan, trainer Per Engblom, and the ownership of Evan Katz, Frank Canzone, and Joseph Di Scala Jr.
 
The Liberty Bell stakes series ends its 2022 run at the southeast Pennsylvania track on Sunday’s 12:40 card, with a pair of $30,000 events for sophomore pacers of each sex. Included among the Liberty Bell horses Sunday is Captain Cowgirl, who recently became the first pacer (of either sex) in the recorded history of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes to head her preliminary pointtotal column and then go on to win her Championship at ages two and three. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html. 

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – A youngster so unpromising that two of his three breeders gave their outright ownership of him to the third partner, Dandy is looking, well, just dandy right now as he went over $200,000 in seasonal earnings while winning the sole $56,250 division of a Liberty Bell stake for three-year-old trotting colts Thursday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
The third, “recipient” partner was driver Jackie Ingrassia, and she reserved the son of Cantab Hall off early fractions of :28 and :58 set by Emerald’s Legacy, then began Dandy’s trademark last-half grind before the 1:26.1 three-quarters, but he was still five lengths out at that point.
 
But Dandy, trained by Jackie’s husband Frank, just kept coming on, as he has all season, and was able to get up over the potential pocket rocket That Ole Bar Stool by a head in 1:55. Dandy has now won half his fourteen starts this year, three of them in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes (he was third in the Championship), and now adds a Liberty Bell trophy to the Ingrassias’ collection.
 
The Bar Hopping – Designable freshman gelding Designer Drink was also third in his Sire Stakes Championship, and he also won a Liberty Bell stake, taking one of the two $30,000 divisions for two-year-old trotting males. Designer Drink was raced on the lead and finished three-quarters of a length better than 28-1 shot Big Baller Beane in 1:57.3. Tim Tetrick handled the late-developing winner, now successful in two of his last three starts, for trainer Symon Spicer and Keystone Stable.
 
Big Baller Beane, second in Designer Drink’s division, saw a stablemate win the other freshman cut, as another Bar Hopping gelding, Open Bar, added a Liberty Bell victory to previous successes in the PA Stallion Series and an Arden Downs stake by winning in 1:56.4 while 4½ lengths clear of his nearest opposition. Corey Callahan drove the frontender for trainer Steve Schoeffel and the ownership of Virginia and Kathy Schoeffel, Marian Schilling, and Daniel Goehle.
 
Corey Callahan and Tim Tetrick, the winners in the Liberty Bell action for babies, each won five races on the Thursday card, and between them accounted for all three of the overnight features on Philly’s “Trottin’ Thursday.”
 
Callahan took the richest of those contests, winning the $15,300 event with the Dejarmbro gelding Star Razor on the engine in 1:53.4, his ninth win this year in fifteen starts for trainer Shaun Callahan and owners Nick Callahan, Yorwollahan Racing Team, and Gregory Godbout; Corey also got home Hayek in the $13,000 fast-class feature in 1:54.3 for trainer Per Engblom and owners Evan Katz and Frank Canzone. Tetrick, the meet’s top driver, was successful with the Muscle Hill sophomore gelding Stride The Hill in 1:54.2, winning a $14,400 contest for trainer Jim Campbell and Fashion Farms LLC. 
 
The Liberty Bell stakes series for PA-sired horses continues tomorrow at Harrah’s Philly, with three divisions of baby pacing colts and a single section of sophomore trotting fillies ready for action. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html. 

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Team Mac and Greystone Watchman each paced in 1:53.1 to win the twin $13,000 pacing features at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Team Mac, a sophomore Bettor’s Delight gelding who got into the race off the “AE” list, was second-over as the first two horses one- and two-wide entering the stretch each took their best shot at winning, with the four finishing within a length of each other. Team Mac, driven by Anthony Napolitano, rallied to win by a half-length over pacesetting Always Better in his third straight victory for trainer Victoria Stratton and the partnership of VIP Internet Stable LLC and Stratton Stable Inc.
 
Greystone Watchman sat a perfect pocket trip, went to the lead in the Pocono Pike, and outpaced the uncovered favorite PBR Street Gang by a neck to take a new mark in the other feature division. Braxten Boyd engineered the 8-1 upset with the altered son of He’s Watching for trainer Herbert Lux III and owner Robert John Becker.
 
The drivers of the two feature winners split half of the card’s fourteen races between them. Braxten Boyd brought home four winners, while Anthony Napolitano checked home first three times; the triple gave “ANap” thirteen driving tallies over the days of this week’s racing.
 
Pocono resumes racing on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.; the mountain track’s regular fall schedule calls for racing on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday afternoons. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.