WILKES-BARRE PA – Highalator added to his impressive lifetime record at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday afternoon, as he is now 17 for 28 in his career at the mountain oval after a 1:50.1 victory in the $15,700 conditioned pacing feature.
Driver Rick Still did not try to outgun the outside leavers with the winning son of Somebeachsomewhere as they raced to a :26.3 quarter; he left him on the outside and gradually got the top before the :54.4 midway clocking. Second-choice Vettel N came up to challenge the leader before the 1:21.4 three-quarters, but Highlator remained his usual game self to run his lifetime totals to 41 wins in 92 starts and earnings of $654,228 for trainer Jenny Bier, who is co-owner with Joann Dombeck and Midsize Construction Inc.
The equivalent pace fell to the Somebeachsomehwere gelding Points North, who came to Pocono from points north such as Woodbine Mohawk and The Meadowlands, and promptly won in 1:49.4. The invader did not get things easy, parked past a :26.3 quarter for driver James MacDonald, posting middle fractions of :54.4 and 1:22, and then having to deal in the stretch with the horse who had pressed him early, Aintobettor A, but getting the job done for trainer Carmen Auciello and the ownership of Aaron Waxman and Frank Cirillo.
The meet’s leading driver, George Napolitano Jr., had four wins on the afternoon, three of them for Gilbert Garcia-Herrera, the meet’s leading trainer.
The Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series begin their 2021 local campaigns during the Sunday twilight 5:00 p.m. card, with three-year-old pacing colts getting the season off to a fast start. There will be three Sire Stakes and seven Stallion Series races; in the Sire Stakes are last year’s divisional champion, Perfect Sting, making his seasonal debut after going undefeated in ten starts at two, and Southwind Gendry, already a 1:49.4 win in the first Sire Stakes preliminary at The Meadows. Also, there will be a Rainbow Pick-5 carryover of $54,744.54 going into the Sunday card. Program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.