Photo: Curtis Salonick
By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – If you were ever to see a six-horse field lined up 6-5-4-3-2-1 under the wire the first time, it would be in the featured $16,500 claiming handicap pace at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, where the claiming price of the entrants, in the order listed above, was $39G, $36G, $34G, $32G, and two $30Gs.
And the race came down to the lead horse and the pocket horse, Belmont Major N and Intimidation, and the Art Major gelding Belmont Major N held on tenaciously to snatch a 1:52 decision over his threatening rival as the rain came down for the first time on the night.
Fractions of :26.1 and :55.1 have proven to be within Belmont Major N’s capacity recently, and so he had enough to turn back the first-over bid of favored Real Surreal passing the 1:23.1 three-quarters on the sloppy track. But Intimidation was fresh and live in the two-hole, and Anthony Napolitano coaxed the horse along, and he got enough response late to down his Pocono Pike rival by a nose; slow-clearing Hammerin Hank missing getting the big end of the money by a head.
Speaking of money, Belmont Major N was claimed for $30,000 on April 5 by owner Todd’s Auto and trainer Lou Pena, and since then in five starts Belmont Major N has three wins, a third, and a fourth, worth $28,800 in purses for his two-month stay with his connections.
There were three divisions of a $15,500 starter allowance for horses valued at $25,000, with optional claiming. Two of them had no age restriction, and in the faster of this pair, conducted in the slop unlike the other two co-feaures, saw the Somebeachsomewhere gelding Water Sports Teen race to an unbelievable 1:51 victory off a claim by owner Holton Gannon Jr. and trainer William Andrews.
Linnycalledfrankie refused to yield to the winner in a :25.4 quarter, but Simon Allard felt his pacer’s need for the front and moved him again to clear by a wicked :53.4 half. Other rivals were repulsed past the 1:21.3 three-quarters and around the turn, but fresh 40-1 shot Bullville Stephano menaced in the Pocono Pike nearing the finish, yet the “Teen” held on by the smallest possible margin.
In the second grouping of the no-age restriction sector, the Odds On Equuleus gelding Odds On Liquidity won his fourth straight, and his first since a claim by owner William Hartt and trainer Dean Eckley, in a lifetime best 1:51.1. George Napolitano Jr., who had three wins on the night to lead the drivers and give him eight Pocono triumphs in two days, sent the hot pacer to the lead in front of the stands and turned back a persistent Twice The Ice by 1¼ lengths.
The other subfeature was limited to 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, and that race was won by the Classic Card Shark gelding Cards A Flyin, who has proven to be quite the $10,000 claim for trainer-owner Britney Dillon – he was third in this company in his first start for her, and here stopped the timer in 1:52.4. George Napolitano Jr. kept getting a little more out of the horse, and he was along late to favored pacesetter JK Steve’s Spirit by a length; the chalk photoed American Warrior in retaining the deuce.
The racing week continues on Monday at 1 p.m. and concludes on Tuesday, with that card also having a 1 p.m. start. The first two-year-olds of the season are scheduled for the Wednesday morning qualifiers, and then the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series for three-year-old trotting males come to town on Saturday, June 7. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
WILKES-BARRE PA – If you were ever to see a six-horse field lined up 6-5-4-3-2-1 under the wire the first time, it would be in the featured $16,500 claiming handicap pace at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, where the claiming price of the entrants, in the order listed above, was $39G, $36G, $34G, $32G, and two $30Gs.
And the race came down to the lead horse and the pocket horse, Belmont Major N and Intimidation, and the Art Major gelding Belmont Major N held on tenaciously to snatch a 1:52 decision over his threatening rival as the rain came down for the first time on the night.
Fractions of :26.1 and :55.1 have proven to be within Belmont Major N’s capacity recently, and so he had enough to turn back the first-over bid of favored Real Surreal passing the 1:23.1 three-quarters on the sloppy track. But Intimidation was fresh and live in the two-hole, and Anthony Napolitano coaxed the horse along, and he got enough response late to down his Pocono Pike rival by a nose; slow-clearing Hammerin Hank missing getting the big end of the money by a head.
Speaking of money, Belmont Major N was claimed for $30,000 on April 5 by owner Todd’s Auto and trainer Lou Pena, and since then in five starts Belmont Major N has three wins, a third, and a fourth, worth $28,800 in purses for his two-month stay with his connections.
There were three divisions of a $15,500 starter allowance for horses valued at $25,000, with optional claiming. Two of them had no age restriction, and in the faster of this pair, conducted in the slop unlike the other two co-feaures, saw the Somebeachsomewhere gelding Water Sports Teen race to an unbelievable 1:51 victory off a claim by owner Holton Gannon Jr. and trainer William Andrews.
Linnycalledfrankie refused to yield to the winner in a :25.4 quarter, but Simon Allard felt his pacer’s need for the front and moved him again to clear by a wicked :53.4 half. Other rivals were repulsed past the 1:21.3 three-quarters and around the turn, but fresh 40-1 shot Bullville Stephano menaced in the Pocono Pike nearing the finish, yet the “Teen” held on by the smallest possible margin.
In the second grouping of the no-age restriction sector, the Odds On Equuleus gelding Odds On Liquidity won his fourth straight, and his first since a claim by owner William Hartt and trainer Dean Eckley, in a lifetime best 1:51.1. George Napolitano Jr., who had three wins on the night to lead the drivers and give him eight Pocono triumphs in two days, sent the hot pacer to the lead in front of the stands and turned back a persistent Twice The Ice by 1¼ lengths.
The other subfeature was limited to 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, and that race was won by the Classic Card Shark gelding Cards A Flyin, who has proven to be quite the $10,000 claim for trainer-owner Britney Dillon – he was third in this company in his first start for her, and here stopped the timer in 1:52.4. George Napolitano Jr. kept getting a little more out of the horse, and he was along late to favored pacesetter JK Steve’s Spirit by a length; the chalk photoed American Warrior in retaining the deuce.
The racing week continues on Monday at 1 p.m. and concludes on Tuesday, with that card also having a 1 p.m. start. The first two-year-olds of the season are scheduled for the Wednesday morning qualifiers, and then the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series for three-year-old trotting males come to town on Saturday, June 7. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
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