Pacers not normally featured at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono took a turn in the spotlight on the Monday afternoon (March 7) card, as horses with base claiming tags of $10,000 and $7,500 competed in their respective first preliminaries of the Game Of Claims Series.

In the races for higher-priced horses, which each went for $10,000, perennial Pocono leading driver George Napolitano Jr. guided home three of the four winners (and three of his four winners on the card), including the fastest GOC winner, Toddler Tantrum, who held off tough foe Whata Treasure in 1:54 over a sloppy track. That Napolitano winner, along with Polak A (1:56.2 when the track was still "fast") and Skyway Fireball (1:54.4), all will be changing hands for their next race; the one divisional winner who was not taken was Queen Kendall, coming over from Freehold and posting a $135.60 shocker for driver Jim Pantaleano while covering the off going in 1:55.4.

The $7,500 pacers went for that purse amount in three divisions of their first GOC prelims. Fastest came in the first race of the day, when the track was still rated fast, as Anthony Napolitano zoomed out of the pocket with Bayonet to tally in 1:55; also winning their first-round divisions, conducted in the "off" going, were Mcleish (Braxten Boyd) in 1:57.3 and Whata Twist (Jim Morrill Jr.) in 1:58.1. All three winners went home to familiar surroundings, as none of the trio had a taker in the claiming box.

Despite their lower claiming tags, the Monday Game Of Claims horses generated $176,875 in transactional business, with 18 horses changing barns. The Monday activity gave Pocono a “million-dollar week”: during the three cards, the claiming action for 57 horses totaled $1,019,375, as everyone wants a sharp horse to try for the pot of gold at the end of the Game Of Claims action.

Racing returns to The Downs on Saturday afternoon, where during a 1:30 p.m. (EST) card high-level claiming pacers will race in their third and final preliminary legs of their Game Of Claims Series, trying to earn spots in their rich series Championships on Saturday, March 19. Program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.

(PHHA / Pocono)