There were no repeat winners in the second preliminary leg of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action for three-year-old trotting colts on Saturday night (June 10) at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but three 'new shooters' thrust themselves into the upper reaches of the divisional rankings with impressive successes.
Dover Dan, a son of Andover Hall out of the immortal C R Kay Suzie (whose world record for baby trotting fillies on a half-miler stood up for 20 full years before Wild Honey broke it in 2014), showed some of the potency in his veins by swinging wide on the final turn and then drawing off through the lane to a two and a half-length victory over favoured Moonshiner Hanover in 1:52.4, which also gave the John Butenschoen trainee a new lifetime mark. Corey Callahan did the driving for owners William Wiswell, Jean Goehlen, and Eugene Schick.
Callahan/Butenschoen accounted for another Sire Stakes winner, also timed in 1:52.4 for a personal record, although calling him “a new shooter” is admittedly a stretch. But the Yankee Glide ridgling Giveitgasandgo, the 2016 divisional Sire Stakes champ, had only two seconds in as many seasonal starts coming up to the race, but he showed himself on the improve, stepping home in :55.2 to hold off pocket-sitting favourite President Lindy by one and a quarter lengths, boosting his career earnings over $300,000 for the partnership of Harmony Oaks Racing Stable Inc., David Miller, Lawrence Means, and VIP Internet Stable LLC.
Rubio, a Cantab Hall colt, was prepared excellently for his seasonal debut by trainer Jimmy Takter, and then the Hall of Famer finished the job off by guiding Rubio as he went first-over the last three-eighths yet still wore down pacesetter Muscles Jared by a length, taking a new mark of 1:53.1 while trotting his own back half in :55.2. Heavy favourite Sortie, a Sire Stakes and Currier & Ives winner in his only seasonal starts, made a break moving to the lead in front of the stands, but Rubio, third as the favourite in the Peter Haughton last year, would have been a tough foe to contend with in any event as he circled the first Saturday in August by winning for owner Christina Takter, John and Jim Fielding, and Brixton Medical Inc.
In a $25,000 Winners Over Pace, 1-5 favourite Blood Brother watched as Dream Out Loud N put Betting Exchange behind him early, moved at the :26.3 quarter to the lead, posted middle splits of :55.1 and 1:23, then held off a foe to each side nearing the wire for a 1:50.1 victory. The Somebeachwhere gelding, who now has earnings of $162,250 this year and $610,413 lifetime for owners D’Elegance Stable IX, Charles Iannacone, T L P Stables and P T Stable, was the fourth winner of the evening at The Downs for driver Jason Bartlett, the leading money-winner among sulky-smiths in North America, and trainer Richard Banca, who enjoyed his second successful pairing with Bartlett on the night. Dream Out Loud N narrowed in late but was a neck behind the winner, while Betting Exchange took the inner route for third, a further half-length back.
(PHHA/Pocono)