After guiding three-year-old pacer Its My Show to wins in his first two starts of 2023, driver Scott Zeron hoped this was the version of the horse his connections expected at age two. But Zeron still needed to see a little more.

In his third start, Its My Show affirmed Zeron’s belief. Its My Show, who was winless in eight races last season, battled Bamboozler on his way to a then-career-best 1:49.2 victory in a division of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at The Downs at Mohegan Pocono.

Three races later, Its My Show was a perfect six-for-six and the Pepsi North America Cup champion for Zeron, trainer Linda Toscano and owners Richard Young and Joanne Young.

“He qualified good coming into this year, but he qualified that good at two,” said Zeron. “Last year, he didn’t want to give that extra effort, which was a bit of a surprise. He was always in great positions [in races] but never capitalized on them. It was disappointing.

“Coming back at three, I asked Linda how he was doing. She said he trained down good, but we would only know when he got in a head-to-head battle. His first start this year was at The Meadowlands and he went 1:25.1 to three-quarters, sprinted home hard and did it very comfortably. But it wasn’t a mano-a-mano down the lane. I was waiting for that scenario.”

The test came at Pocono, where Zeron moved Its My Show multiple times during the mile, taking the lead in a :53.3 half before Bamboozler took over on the way to three-quarters in 1:21.1. In the stretch, Its My Show came from more than a length back to win by 1-3/4 lengths.

“He came out down the lane and went by [Bamboozler] comfortably,” said Zeron. “I went, 'OK, that’s it. He is competitive.'

“That’s the biggest change from last year, his focus and willingness to compete out there now. He’s come back to be the same animal, whether it be great gaited, great manners and extremely robotic in that you can ask him to go an eighth in 11 seconds and the next in 20 seconds. So, he’s a driver’s dream.”

On Saturday, Its My Show makes his first start since his North America Cup win on June 17. The gelding meets seven rivals in the second of two eliminations of the Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows. He will start from post three and is the 3-1 morning-line favourite in the event for three-year-old pacers.

The top four finishers from each elim plus the fifth-place finisher with the highest lifetime earnings will return for the final on July 29.

Its My Show, who was not eligible to last week’s Meadowlands Pace, heads to the Adios elims off a second-place finish in a qualifier on July 7 at The Meadowlands. He paced his last quarter in :25.2 and was beaten by four-year-old Bythemissal, who was last year’s Adios champion. Its My Show was timed in 1:50.1.

“He qualified great,” Zeron said about the homebred son of Sweet Lou-Put On A Show. “We were able to sit in until the last quarter and just gave him one run down the lane. We got beat from behind, but it took a :24.4 to do it. So, I was happy with the way he qualified. This is a nice schedule because he got to have a break by not being in the Meadowlands Pace. He feels fresh, he feels good and I think we’re coming into this race as good as a horse could be.”

Ervin Hanover, one of four horses in the eliminations for Meadows-based trainer Ron Burke, is the 7-2 second choice behind Its My Show, followed by Ken Hanover at 9-2.

The morning-line choice in the first elimination is Cannibal at 3-1. The colt, who will have Yannick Gingras in the sulky for trainer Nancy Takter, has won four of five races this season, including his Meadowlands Pace elim on July 8. He finished sixth in last week’s final.

Fulton, also from the Toscano Stable, is the 7-2 second choice. He was last season’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion and heads to Saturday’s race off a fourth-place finish in the Meadowlands Pace final.

Racing begins at 12:45 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday at The Meadows. For free programs for The Meadows, click here.

(USTA)