By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​WILKES-BARRE PA – The Game Of Claims Series for the highest two levels of pacers raced their third and final preliminary round on Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and the top contenders for the thrones to be won in the rich Game Of Claims Championships next week were not exactly clarified by the twilight card’s action.
 
The highest-level horses, going here for a base claiming tag of $30,000 in the weekly-progressive pricing rules of the series, raced two $25,000 preliminaries, with neither winner being claimed. Those winners were Classy Hill, an Art Colony gelding who took the field coast-to-coast in 1:53 for driver George Napolitano Jr. (a five-time winner on the card) in his first start for trainer Dan Maier and owner Ameer Najor, and the longest shot on the board, the Quality Western gelding Mister Indiana, who decisioned the second-longest shot, Half A Billion, in 1:52.3, for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Michael Posner, and owner Austin Siegelman.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​WILKES-BARRE PA – Even as a certain well-regarded mare qualified at Dover in what was likely preparation for early season work, two horses who were very prominent in last year’s Levy Series action turned in top qualifiers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono Wednesday morning.
 
Western Fame, the 2019 Levy Series winner who would go on to take a Franklin elim and finish third in the Franklin Championship here at Pocono, went straight to the lead for driver Simon Allard and trainer/brother Rene Allard, winning in 1:57.1. A last quarter of :28.4 made the winner of $1,745,185 clear at the wire for  Go Fast Stable, Stephen Klunowski, B & I Stables LLC, and Gilbert Short.
 
Later, former Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Champion Ideal Jimmy, a three-time Levy prelim winner last year, put in a sharp 1:53.4 mile on the engine, with a :27.3 last quarter leaving him 8¼ lengths in front of his field for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Erv Miller, and the Van Witzenburg stable.
 
Also deserving mention are the team of driver Eric Carlson and trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera, who combined on the first three qualifiying winners. Garcia-Herrera sent out a total of eleven horses in the prep races, a few times with two in the same race, and in addition to the three wins he had four second-place finishers and two third-place finishers.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The second preliminary rounds of two of the levels in the Game Of Claims Series took place on Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and sharp horsemen looking for potential thronetakers in the Game Of Claims Championships two weeks hence claimed all three of the night’s series winners.
 
The Game Of Claims pacing horses who went for a basic price of $12,500 drew one division of ten horses (scratched down to nine), making for a rare trailing starter at Pocono. At the wire, the field was trailing the Rocknroll Hanover gelding Grandpa Don, who after being last at the half made a huge looping move on the far turn and paced past everybody in 1:56.2 for driver Tyler Buter and trainer Susan Marshall, the latter co-owner with John Marshall – and was then claimed out of the race.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Game Of Claims Series continued on Saturday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with the temperature dropping through the 20s throughout the twilight card but the contested action featuring hot contests and hot horses.
 
Both winners were claimed out of the $25,000 second preliminary leg for horses this week valued at a base price of $27,500, as horsemen want the right horse ready to take the throne in this group’s $50,000 Game of Claims Championship on Saturday the 29th.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Game Of Claims Pacing Series, which will offer rich paydays to those who can claim the throne as best in the respective price divisions, continued on Sunday evening at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with two sections each of first round preliminaries, offering $7500 for $7500 claimers and $10,000 for $10,000-tagged horses.
 
Remarkably, six of the eleven horses in the $10,000 action will be racing for new barns next week after being claimed, including divisional winner Charger Blue Chip, who won his debut as a 10-year-old in 1:58 over a tiring track rated “good.” The Rocknroll Hanover gelding rallied from the pocket to overhaul pacesetting favorite Midnight Dylan N for driver Tom Jackson and owner/trainer Emily Bost.
 
No claim was entered on the Mach Three gelding Mr Carrotts despite his being the second choice, and trainer Dan Morrissey and owner Leona Morrissey got to “walk him home” after he one-geared up raw and held off Master The View in 1:57.4.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA -- The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono opened on Saturday night, the earliest seasonal start in the 55 years of racing at the track, but while the temperature hung around the freezing mark, the competition on the oval was hot, mainly in the first preliminary leg of two sections of the track’s Game Of Claims Pacing Series.
 
Action for horses entered at various claiming prices, with three preliminaries determining those who will race for the throne as their Game Of Claims divisional champion, provided two divisions of $25,000 base-price horses going for $25,000 each and three cuts of $15,000 base-price horses going for $15,000 (the base price in each grouping goes up slightly with each preliminary) opening night. With $50,000 and $30,000 Championship purses respectively, it’s no surprise that a total of eighteen horses were claimed in Saturday’s first round action, including four of the five divisional winners, for a total of $350,000.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The trotters and pacers take to the track at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono Saturday for the earliest seasonal opening in 55 years of the harness sport in northeast Pennsylvania, with the first of thirteen races scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
The opening set of features during February’s racing at The Downs will be part of the new Game of Claims Series, grouping horses of varying values. It’s appropriate that the claiming horses will provide the early season highlights at a track where 483 claims resulted in $9,465,025 turnover during 2019.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The 2020 racing season got off to a quick start at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Monday morning, as the Big Jim pacing mare Jossie James A won the first qualifier of the season in 1:54 while making her U.S. debut.
 
Yonkers driving leader Jason Bartlett sent the oft-winning mare away quickly from post seven and tucked third. They sat in that position as Lyons River Pride, first or second in his last four starts against good foes at Yonkers, set fractions of :27.3, :56.4, and 1:25.1, then moved out on the turn and overhauled the leader by a half-length for trainer Richard Banca and owner Barbara Boese.

​WILKES-BARRE PA – The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono is preparing for the earliest-ever opening in its 55th season, with qualifying races scheduled for Monday and Tuesday ahead of the first card of this year taking place this coming Saturday, February 8.
 
Trainer/driver Ray Schnittker has several interesting prospects in the Monday qualifiers, which start at 10 a.m., including Wild Bill, a full brother to Huntsville who has shown periodic flashes of his brother’s ability; the trotter Alternative Fact, a 1:53.3 winner as a sophomore in a Simpson Stake division at Harrah’s Philly; and the well-pedigreed Nightcap, a $125,000 yearling who makes her career debut at three.