 Photos: Curtis Salonick |  |
By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Father Patrick gelding Pisces Rising completed a sweep of his three preliminary rounds of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pocono Tuesday afternoon, and will certainly be among the favorite if not the choice in next Tuesday’s $35,000 GOCTS Championship.
The track’s leading driver, Tyler Buter, gave Pisces Rising a heady drive from post seven in a bulky field of nine, leaving just enough to secure the pocket while there was a front end duel. When favored You Got It swept three-wide down the backstretch to the lead, no outer-tier horse could stay with him, so Buter backed Pisces Rising out of the pocket to follow the brusher. The two battled through the lane, and it was Pisces Rising who proved the more photogenic by a neck for trainer Richard Johnston and owner Guy Gemore. The prelim sweeper also managed to escape being claimed from each of his wins.
The Napolitano brothers, Anthony and George Jr., equally divided the remaining four divisions of the GOCTS, including Anthony with the only other horse to win more than once, the Mister Anson gelding Sir Maverick, who was absent for the first leg but now has won two straight, including Tuesday’s 1:55.1 tally for trainer Frank Calcagni and owner Anastasia Meshkova.
Brother George got the mile of a lifetime from Golazo, a 1:53.2 lifetime best for trainer-owner Jill Roland. “Gol” is the Spanish word for a goal as in football/soccer, and “golazo” is a spectacular version of a score; the son of Father Patrick did full justice to his name Tuesday.
Each brother also handled a winner who took their only GOCTS prelim start: George behind another son of Father Patrick, the gelding Novel, who posted a lifetime best 1:54, and Anthony with the Pocono veteran P L Quinella, a Kadabra gelding who won in 1:55.3.
Team Melander – driver Mattias and trainer-brother Marcus – won with a pair of very well-bred horses who had fetched a combined $855,000 at yearling auction, both of whose sires were stars for the Team: Noble Encore, a Greenshoe out of 2017 Horse of the Year Hannelore Hanover who broke his maiden in 1:56.1, and Art Of State (Gimpanzee – Amour Heiress, and thus a half-brother to Periculum), who set a new mark of 1:54.4.
Anthony Napolitano had four winners in all on the day to lead the drivers; Tyler Buter, Matt Kakaley, Mattias Melander, and George Napolitano Jr. had sulky doubles. Conditioners Marcus Melander and Marta Piotrow sent out two winners apiece.
Racing at Pocono resumes on Saturday at 1 p.m., with four $30,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars contest for three-year-old trotting fillies. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Father Patrick gelding Pisces Rising completed a sweep of his three preliminary rounds of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pocono Tuesday afternoon, and will certainly be among the favorite if not the choice in next Tuesday’s $35,000 GOCTS Championship.
The track’s leading driver, Tyler Buter, gave Pisces Rising a heady drive from post seven in a bulky field of nine, leaving just enough to secure the pocket while there was a front end duel. When favored You Got It swept three-wide down the backstretch to the lead, no outer-tier horse could stay with him, so Buter backed Pisces Rising out of the pocket to follow the brusher. The two battled through the lane, and it was Pisces Rising who proved the more photogenic by a neck for trainer Richard Johnston and owner Guy Gemore. The prelim sweeper also managed to escape being claimed from each of his wins.
The Napolitano brothers, Anthony and George Jr., equally divided the remaining four divisions of the GOCTS, including Anthony with the only other horse to win more than once, the Mister Anson gelding Sir Maverick, who was absent for the first leg but now has won two straight, including Tuesday’s 1:55.1 tally for trainer Frank Calcagni and owner Anastasia Meshkova.
Brother George got the mile of a lifetime from Golazo, a 1:53.2 lifetime best for trainer-owner Jill Roland. “Gol” is the Spanish word for a goal as in football/soccer, and “golazo” is a spectacular version of a score; the son of Father Patrick did full justice to his name Tuesday.
Each brother also handled a winner who took their only GOCTS prelim start: George behind another son of Father Patrick, the gelding Novel, who posted a lifetime best 1:54, and Anthony with the Pocono veteran P L Quinella, a Kadabra gelding who won in 1:55.3.
Team Melander – driver Mattias and trainer-brother Marcus – won with a pair of very well-bred horses who had fetched a combined $855,000 at yearling auction, both of whose sires were stars for the Team: Noble Encore, a Greenshoe out of 2017 Horse of the Year Hannelore Hanover who broke his maiden in 1:56.1, and Art Of State (Gimpanzee – Amour Heiress, and thus a half-brother to Periculum), who set a new mark of 1:54.4.
Anthony Napolitano had four winners in all on the day to lead the drivers; Tyler Buter, Matt Kakaley, Mattias Melander, and George Napolitano Jr. had sulky doubles. Conditioners Marcus Melander and Marta Piotrow sent out two winners apiece.
Racing at Pocono resumes on Saturday at 1 p.m., with four $30,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars contest for three-year-old trotting fillies. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
RSS Feed
