By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The Creatine gelding Take All Comers has won three of his last four races, all at Harrah’s Philadelphia, after taking the big share of the purse in the $20,000 Open handicap trot Sunday afternoon at the southeast Pennsylvania oval.
 
Hayek pushed the favored Take All Comers, who started from the assigned outside slot in a field of seven, but the chalk was able to wrest command from him right after a :27 quarter. He got a breather to a :56.1 half, then was asked by driver Troy Beyer to speed up down the backstretch, hitting the three-quarters in 1:23.4 with only Hayek able to stay close. The two-holer gave it his best stretch shot, but Take All Comers, a winner of $599,171, held him off by 1½ lengths in 1:52.3 for trainer Jim Campbell and Runthetable Stables.
 
Even faster on the trot on the Sunday card was the 2022 Maxie Lee Trot winner here, Lovedbythemasses. The Muscle Mass gelding took the lead in a :27.2 opener, yielded to sit the pocket behind Eurobond and fractions of :55.4 and 1:23.4, then zipped home to be three lengths clear of that rival in a sparkling 1:51.4. Lovedbythemasses, now the possessor of a $717,226 bankroll, was driven by Todd McCarthy for trainer Jeff Cullipher, also co-owner with Pollack Racing LLC.
 
Quickest on the pace was the Stay Hungry sophomore gelding Brue Hanover, undefeated in four starts for trainer Ron Burke after putting up splits of :26.3, :55.4, and 1:23, then holding off pocketsitter All Class by a neck in 1:50.3. Simon Allard (a four-time winner on the day) steered the developing three-year-old for owner Brad Grant.
 
Harrah’s Philadelphia is currently racing Wednesday through Friday at 12:25 and Sunday at 12:40. . Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.        

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​​WILKES-BARRE PA – Driver Anthony Napolitano “rolled a seven” at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon, winning the feature, one of the two co-featured events, and the race generating the longest priced winner of the day.
 
The 41-year-old Napolitano kept the Always B Miki gelding Building Boost off the pace through early fractions of :27.3 and :55, had him rolling raw before the 1:23 three-quarters, and then held off the horse on his back, Boardwalk Bet, to win the $17,000 featured pace in 1:50.3, reducing his mark by a tick. Jake Huff trains the developing sidewheeler for Rosalia Huff and Beauty Bridle Racing Stable Inc.
 
In one of two $16,500 events for fast-class pacers Pat Mcgarry A wouldn’t yield to favored RIP Wheeler early, setting first-half numbers of :26.3 and :54, then drew clear to the 1:21 three-quarters and finished out his mile in 1:48.3, lowering his mark by a full second. The altered son of Million Dollar Cam is trained by Jenn Bongiorno for owner Howard Taylor.
 
It was Jenn Bongiorno who had the sweep of the co-features, as the Betting Line gelding Imaginary Line took the shortest way home from the rail. Driver Marcus Miller put up fractions of :27, :55, and 1:22.4, then kept his pacer going to withstand pocketsitter Code Cracker by three-quarters of a length in 1:50 for owner Robert Weinstein.
 
“Anthony Nap” concluded the day’s racing by working out a nice second-over trip with Santafe’s Coach, closing strongly to win in 1:51.3 and return $45.20 to win as the longest shot in the finale.
 
Sunday’s 6 p.m. card at The Downs will feature two $40,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars pace for two-year-old fillies as the baby distaffs look to build on their early resumes. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.    

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
BEDFORD PA – Since it rejoined the Pennsylvania fair harness racing circuit in 2013 after a 23-year absence, the Bedford Fairgrounds has seen its share of rain-caused cancellations. But the track was blessed with two dry days for its Fair meeting on Thursday and Friday, and Pennsylvania fans and horsemen were rewarded with a speed show that likely has never been equaled, even if allowing for the different average times in different eras.
 
Friday was reserved for the three-year-olds – and where to start … Well, to start at the very beginning is a very good place to start, and in the day’s first race the International Moni filly Quarantina trotted the twicearound oval in 1:58.2, lowering the local all-age track record of OMG Hanover (2016) by two seconds and equaling the fastest PA Fair mile for her class (Plumb, Somerset, 2020). Trainer/driver Todd Schadel co-owns the fleet filly with his wife Christine.
 
That 1:58.2 Bedford standard would be equaled 100 minutes later by the Bar Hopping gelding Open Bar, driven by Shawn Johnston for trainer Steve Schoeffel and owners Kathy Schoeffel, Virginia Schoeffel, Marian Schilling, and Daniel Goehle. Team Shawn Johnston/Steve Schoeffel (and the Schoeffel owners) would sweep the “A” Fair Sires divisions of this class with the Father Patrick gelding Big Baller Beane in 1:59.
 
Three three-year-old pacing fillies would beat 1:57: two in the “A” class, first Four Wide N Wingn’ (Aaron Johnston) and then Blank Cheek (Todd Schadel) in 1:55.3. The third would be in a “B” event by Little Lady J (Eric Neal) in 1:56.4.
 
Though the filly Tiamogonedancin’s 1:55.2 Bedford pacing track record wasn’t reached by the females, it was equaled by a three-year-old male pacer, and in a “B” event to boot: Captaincountrystar, a Captaintreacherous gelding trained and driven by Todd Schadel for Mulligan Stables.
 
The speed show had its primary exponent during Thursday’s two-year-old day in Adriatico Hanover, a Stay Hungry – Armbro Amoretto gelding who shocked with a mile in 1:56.1, which equaled the clocking put up in the same category by Venier Hanover at Bloomsburg in 2017 as the fastest freshman mile ever over the county fair tracks in the state. Adriatico Hanover is co-owned by trainer/driver Todd Schadel, Rick Beinhauer, Timothy Hayes, and Dr. Megan Moschgat.
 
Ten 2:00 miles were recorded during the two-day meet, eight of them by the three-year-olds on Thursday, and three of those produced by trotters.
 
Todd Schadel trains all six of the winners he drove in this two-day meet to lead the horsemen’s ranks. Eric Neal was next, steering four success stories, and four trainers harnessed two winners to tie for second.
 
Next stop on the PA Fair Circuit is at Clearfield, roughly-classifiable as being in the northcentral part of the state, the only fair going with four programs: Sunday, July 30, Monday, July 31, and Wednesday, August 2 at 1 p.m., and Tuesday, August 1 at 5:30 p.m.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – The JK Endofanera mare Kobe’s Gigi, taking on a field of both seasoned rivals and talented three-year-olds such as Charleston, overcame her assigned number eight post in winning the $20,000 distaff Open handicap pace Friday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
 
David Miller left hard with the Nifty Norman trainee and settled in third behind a :26.3 opener; then, as the pace slackened in front of the grandstand, Miller was able to take the mare to the lead into the second turn and still got a breather into a :55.3 half. 
 
The three-quarters was reached in 1:23.1, with Kobe’s Gigi drawing away from her field by producing a :27 last quarter. Pocketsitting Hot Mess Express was the distant second, with Charleston, even money to the winner’s 7-5 odds, closed strongly but was too far back and could do no better than third behind Kobe’s Gigi, who is owned by Leander Schwartz and Black & White Stable.
 
A Rocknroll Star recorded 2023 victory number eleven, one short of the North American lead, when he won a $16,200 fast-class handicap pace for males in 1:49.1, a new speed mark. Andrew McCarthy was content to sit third with the altered son of A Rocknroll Dance as Captain Crusader N from the rail and Hazeville from post two, maintaining those two front positions through splits of :26, :54.4, and 1:21.3.


Hazeville vacated the two-hole near headstretch, with McCarthy and A Rocknroll Star going up the inside and beating out that late-bloomer’s rally by three-quarters of a length, stopping that one’s seven-race win streak. A Rocknroll Star is trained by Robert Cleary for owners Joseph and Vincent Barbera.
 
Dexter Dunn led all drivers with three winners on the card.
 
For the fourth straight Friday there was a $50+ “bomber” win price (and on no other day of the week during this four-week period). The longshot helped bring about an $1178.87 carryover into the Pick-5 bet on races five through nine on Sunday’s card, which starts at 12:40; within that bet will be Sunday’s feature race, a $20,000 Open handicap trot. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.        

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
​CHESTER PA – There’s an old adage that “Rainy days and drunken grooms make good race horses,” meaning that a horse left to her own natural ability will frequently have the best chance of success. This attitude was prevalent during the second preliminary of the Pennsylvania-sired program on Wednesday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, as many of the two-year-old trotting filly winners were either pointed to the top and went on to victory, or were moved first-over and went on to the triumph.
 
After four divisions of the day’s $162,948 Sire Stakes action, Sierrra’s Girl was the only two-time PaSS winner after a 1:56.2 mile for trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt and the partnership of Åke Svanstedt Inc., Young Guns, and Joe Sbrocco & JAF Racing. This daughter of Bar Hopping – Chuckys Luckycharm was one of the few winners not using the two routes described above, instead sitting third on the rail and coming up nicely along the inside in the stretch to tally.
 
Fastest winner of any baby miss succeeding in a stake was the Fordham Road – A Little Laid Back filly, who dominated her field on the lead while lowering her mark to 1:55.1. Driver Brady Brown, having an excellent year with freshman trotters in all corners of the state, sulkysat for trainer/owner/legend Roger Hammer while running her purse record to 3-for-5.
 
The other two PaSS divisions were taken by daughters of Father Patrick. The Moment (dam Myimpossibledream) grinded to a 1:56.1 maiden success for driver Tim Tetrick, trainer Lucas Wallin, and owners Al Libfeld, Marvin and Lynn Katz, and San Goldband, while Paulina Hanover (dam Personal Style) was successful from the front in her purse debut in 1:57, with Andrew McCarthy driving for trainer Noel Daley and owner Mario Mazza.
 
There were seven $20,000 divisions for the Stallion Series fillies, with the only repeater in the class also being a daughter of Bar Hopping, Tequini Hanover (dam Tangent). She won in 1:57.4, a new mark, for the hot combo of driver Tim Tetrick and Lucas Wallin, with Wiesman Farms LLC and Pieter Delis sharing ownership with the trainer.
 
There were a pair of 1:56.4 maiden wins tying for fastest in the Stallion Series action: from Fannie Lipkowitz (Greenshoe – Ma Was Right), another success forthe Tetrick / Wallin connection and for owners Wallin and Sherman Stables, and from Norma Pearl (Father Patrick – Celebrity Obsesion), brought home by David Miller for trainer Ron Burke and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC, Knox Services Inc., Lawrence Karr, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby.
 
Philip Scott Sonsteby, a 26-year-old native of Norway, trained his first North American winner when he sent out the Bar Hopping – Miss Aultsville filly Chimebelle to a 1:58.3 victory in her first purse outing. She was driven by Andrew McCarthy for J. Mark Egloff Jr., Max J. Hempt, Philip Scott Racing Stable, and Thomas Biederman.
 
Nifty Norman trained the other three PaStS winners, two of them driven by Dexter Dunn: the Father Patrick – Beehive filly Magic Bee, who broke her maiden in 1:57.1 for owners David Mc Duffee and Herb Liverman, and the International Moni – Behold The Dream miss Belle Meade, a maiden no more after a 1:58.4 win for Paul Sunderhaus, Carter Duer, Triple Play Trotters LLC, and Enzed Racing Stable Inc. David Miller handled the other “Nifty” winner, the Bar Hopping – Snow Angel Hanover filly Sambuca Hanover, who won her purse debut in 1:58.4 for David Mc Duffee, Paul Bordogna, and Melvin Hartman.

Racing will continue on Thursday at 12:25, with a $1453.17 carryover into the Pick-5 on races five through nine; Friday’s 12:25 card will have handicap paces for fast-class horses of both sexes; and Sunday’s card will be topped by an Open handicap trot. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.  

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – The chalk emerged victorious in the twin $16,000 featured paces at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Tuesday afternoon, with Joemikiyoursofine triumphing in the division for males and Proud Mary the winner in the group of females. 
 
The three-year-old Always B Miki gelding Joemikiyoursofine certainly earned his victory, as he spotted fourth late on the first turn for driver George Napolitano Jr., then came out without cover down the backstretch to contend for command. Joemikiyoursofine and pocketsitting Lousain Bolt, using the Pocono Pike, were the main contenders approaching the wire, with “Joemiki” emerging a half a length to the good in 1:51.4. Chris Choate trains the winner for Anthony Ruggeri and Richard Tosies.
 
Proud Mark posted her second straight win despite coming off a “sick” scratch, coming home first in 1:52.2. Matt Kakaley moved the sophomore Sweet Lou filly to the lead in front of the stands and maintained control to the wire, with My Hungry Girl shooting up the inside but coming up three quarters of a length short. Chris Ryder trains the winner, third in her PA Sire Stakes Championship last year, for Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Bottom Line Racing LLC. 
 
There was a double carryover going into Tuesday’s Pick-5 on races eight through twelve, and despite that fact, four of the eight entrants in the final race would have caused yet another carryover had they won. Favored Keystone Apache came through in the last leg, though, but lucky ticketholders still received a healthy $1202.48 payoff on the basic-price 20-cent ticket.
 
Racing returns to the mountain oval on Saturday at 1 p.m. During Sunday’s 6 p.m. card, there will be two $35,000 Pennsylvania All-Stars events for two-year-old filly pacers; among the entrants is Lyons Legend, already a double Sire Stakes winner and undefeated in three career starts. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.      

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
BEDFORD PA – Fairgrounds are noted for their exciting rollercoaster rides, and the 11-race meet held at the fairgrounds in this southwest Pennsylvania town on Sunday and Monday, conducted as a “2-Day Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes meet” per state statute, had more ups and downs than the thrill machines located at any other place of grand amusement.
 
The two-year-olds were out for eight races on Sunday, an “A” Fair Sire Stakes for each division and then a “B” section. The four “A” events went first, and each produced a season’s record for the Pennsylvania twicearounds: colt pacer Turn N Dance (A Rocknroll Dance – Turn Her Ingo) in 2:00.4, filly trotter Ciao Time (Possess The Will - Ciao Dough) lowering her own mark to 2:07.2, pacing filly Always Sassy (Always B Miki – Soulmate Hanover) in 2:03.4, and trotting colt Blame It On Texas (Southwind Frank – Sweet Possession) in 2:04.2.
 
Then the “B” races were held … and two newly-minted season’s records were broken, and another tied, by the lower-graded horses. The mile that made everybody stand up was the 1:59.3 race turned in by the pacing filly Adroit Hanover (Betting Line – Asada Hanover), which was the first 2:00 mile of the fair season by a baby and also a divisional track record for Bedford, eclipsing the 2014 mark of 2:00 set by Keystone I Win. Aaron Johnston drove the new recordholder for trainer Susan Callihan, co-owner with Gregory Callihan and Nicole Buchleitner.
 
In other “B” races, trotting filly Whiskey’d My Way (Bar Hopping – Lady Ping) lowered the PA fair season’s record to 2:06.2, and trotting colt RT Outlaw (Fordham Road – Order By Meryl) equaled the 2023 standard of 2:04.2.
 
Then came Monday and three-year-old racing, with the "A" trotters leading off. The co-owners of the legendary Vivid Photo, Todd Schadel and Roger Hammer, each had a winner, Todd with the International Moni filly Quarantina in 2:01, and Roger posting the same time with the Fordham Road colt Battin A Thousand.
 
The race in between these two was the contest where the action shifted from the rollercoaster to the House Of Mirrors, where you can’t believe what you first see. What was first seen was the trotting filly Smooth As Silk crossing the wire first in 1:58.4, which would have been the fastest mile ever trotted at the Bedford oval by far, the standard being the 2:00.2 of OMG Hanover in 2016.
 
But there was an inquiry, and Smooth As Silk was placed down from first to second, with the elevation of the Bar Hopping miss Keystone Sweetpea (Todd Schadel) to the top position. Because the race was uncharted, the official win time of the contest per the rules was “T.Dis.” – and thus no track record.
 
And then, after Battin A Thousand’s race, the rains came and washed out the rest of the card. And there the rollercoaster halted (temporarily, as we shall soon see).
 
Roger Hammer and Mike Wilder each won three races to lead in the abbreviated meet; Roger trains all three of the winners he drove to sit atop the conditioners category.
 
Long-suffering but indomitable Jake Hoover, head of the racing program at Bedford, will be right back in the box, though. The Fair portion of the Bedford presentation is slotted for this Thursday and Friday, both days with a 3:00 start, and Hoover along with everybody else will hope for a less bumpy ride and fast racing.

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Optrix became the first horse to pay over $50 to win twice at the 2023 meet at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, making a strong backstretch move to the lead and going on for a new lifetime mark of 1:55.1.
 
Jim Pantaleano drove the sophomore Trixton gelding to the upset for trainer Tom Jackson, also co-owner with Howard Taylor and Jenna Corneilson. It was Jackson who had earlier guided Optrix to a $104.60 payoff, second-highest of the meet, and the three-year-old’s win today allowed Jackson to tie for the trainers colony lead with two such bombers to his credit.
 
In a $12,500 trotting co-feature for older performers, Papi Hanover used similar tactics to Optrix’s winning move, making a big brush down the backstretch to the lead and then defeating his field in 1:56.2. The Explosive Matter gelding was driven by Ridge Warren for trainer Karen Fread, also the co-owner with Randy and Michael Toth and James Mims Jr.
 
In the race between the two features, also a trot, 40-year-old Anibal Borjas, a native of Guatemala, gave himself a day he’ll never forget, as after 46 qualifying drives he made his pari-mutuel debut and promptly rallied out of the pocket with the Stay Hungry sophomore filly Mint Julep Hanover to put a maiden mark of 1:55.3 on her. Trainer Tony Alagna gave the opportunity to drive for Borjas, and he quickly repaid Alagna’s confidence and that of owners Brad Grant, Jablonsky Held Stable, and Alagna Racing LLC.
 
The racing week concludes on Tuesday at Pocono Downs, with the card starting at 1 p.m; there is a very tasty $4449.82 carryover into Tuesday’s Pick-5 wager in races eight through twelve. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.   

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
WILKES-BARRE PA – Both Lyons Legend and Geocentric notched their second straight Pennsylvania Sire Stakes wins among the four divisions of the $168,864 second prelim PaSS event for two-year-old fillies, and both the repeaters at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania Sunday were guided by the Driver Of The Weekend, Tim Tetrick.
 
Surprisingly, neither of these two winners took a lifetime mark, as they had gone faster in afternoon Sires action at The Meadows. Lyons Legend will get top billing here because she was the faster of the two this night at 1:52.4, and because she is now perfect in three purse stats. The daughter of Stay Hungry – Skinny Dip let the dust settle to the :28.1 quarter, moved and took over the top at the :57.2 midway point, maintained control past a 1:25.3 three-quarters, then came home in 27.1 for trainer Jim King Jr. and Threelyonsracing.
 
Geocentric, a daughter of Sweet Lou – Geometry, was looped early and got command by the :28.3 quarter, got a breather to the half in :58.2, then stepped up the pace so that the timer read 1:26.3 at the three-quarters and 1:53.1 at the wire – her own back fractions in :54.4 - :26.3. Geocentric has now won both of her starts for trainer Brian Brown and the partnership of Milton Leeman, Alan Keith, James Stambaugh, and Joe Sbrocco.
 
Tying Lyons Legend at 1:52.4 for fastest Sires mile of the night was the Captaintreacherous – Eloquent Grace freshman Caviart Belle, who took the top early for Yannick Gingras and posted fractions of :28.2, :57.2, and 1:26, sprinting home in :26.4 for a lifetime mark. Second in a Kindergarten event in her only other purse start, Caviart Belle is trained by Nancy Takter for Caviart Farms.
 
Crashing the Sire Stakes winners circle party as the longest (38-1) shot in her division, Canigetalouploup lowered her mark to 1:54.3 in her second purse victory. David Miller worked out a good inside trip with the daughter of Sweet Lou (a PaSS double) – Continual Velocity behind fractions of :28.2, :58.3, and 1:27, then kicked home sharply into the :27.3 last quarter to post the upset for people not normally associated with equine outsiders – driver David Miller, trainer Ron Burke, and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Lawrence Karr, and Phil Collura.
 
All four of the Sire Stakes were won by 1½ lengths or more; four of the five $20,000 companion Stallion Series divisions were decided by a neck. The fastest StS winner was the only one to have had a purse start before Sunday, the Stay Hungry – Dance Until Dawn miss Stayinforthedance. She was also an upsetter, being dismissed at 22-1 yet winning in 1:54.1 for driver Matt Kakaley and trainer Joseph Lucas, co-owner with At The Wire Farms.
 
Andrew McCarthy drove two of the successful Stallion Series fillies: the Sweet Lou – Caviart Sarah distaff Caviart Sophie, a 1:55.2 winner for trainer Tony Alagna and Caviart Farms, and Bares All, a daughter of Heston Blue Chip – Skinny Dipper (not Skinny Dip, who is Lyons Legend’s dam) whose 1:55.4 victory for trainer Robert Cleary and Let It Ride Stables Inc. was accomplished by the “luxurious” margin of a half length.
 
Capatintreacherous is the sire of Shebebakin Hanover (out of the great mare Shebestingin), who won her StS section in 1:55.1 for driver Dexter Dunn, trainer Nifty Norman, and Pinske Stables, Yankeeland Partners LLP, and David J. Miller. And a son of “The Captain,” first-crop sire Captain Crunch, got the other production credit in the PaStS with Duffy’s Opinion (dam Strong Opinion), home first in 1:54.4 for driver Todd McCarthy, trainer Brett Pelling, and owner David Mc Duffee.
 
The racing week at Pocono will continue with cards on Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m, with a Pick-5 carryover of $1702.15 carryover into Monday’s Pick-5 bet on races eight through twelve. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.