WILKES-BARRE PA – Trainer Linda Schadel swept the $17,000 featured trots on a soggy Tuesday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, tallying with the Muscle Massive gelding Focus Pocus in 1:57.2 and then with the Conway Hall mare Sweet Heart AS in 1:56.4. The times weren’t bad considering the temperature never got much above 50 degrees on a day of mostly pouring rain, with strong winds rising to occasionally battle.
Sweet Heart AS had a rough journey coming raw from last in a five-horse field, but driver Marcus Miller got him to grind by the pacesetting Bang Bang Boinga, who eventually made a break, and then outclosed the potential pocket rocket So Long Hanover by a neck. Linda and Tony Schadel share ownership of this four-year-old winner.
In the absence of husband Tony (who currently sits second in the North American UDR table in the 100-299 starts category with a batting average of .430), Linda picked out the right catch-drivers for her double, as Miller (four) and Buter (three) accounted for half the driving tallies on the 14-race Pocono card.
And then there was one … Pocono presents the final card of its 2021 racing season this Saturday (October 30) at 12:30 p.m. Featured will be a $21,500 pace in race ten, in which the 2019 Adios winner Southwind Ozzi, coming off a win against similar at Philly, is the 5-2 early favorite in a seven-horse field. Program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.