Max C. Hempt Memorial Pace winner Dandy Ideal came back to Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Saturday, Oct. 11, where he was installed as the favourite in the $38,732 Winners Over Handicap Pace despite facing five older foes with combined career earnings of more than $4.7 million. In the end, a three-year-old did win the race, but it was the Cattlewash-Glancewithme colt Manolete who got the nod, pacing in 1:49.3 for three straight wins at the mountain track.

Driving Manolete, named after a famous bullfighter, Brett Beckwith was not afraid to take the bull by the horns, sending his charge outside past a :26.2 quarter to make the top. Dandy Ideal (Matt Kakaley) got away third, and as the outer tier formed near the :55 half, the pacer who hadn’t had a race in 22 days after eight straight victories was kept to the inside.

Manolete handled the first-over challenge of Voukefalas (George Napolitano Jr.) through the 1:21.4 three-quarters, then braced for the closers. El Rey (Anthony Napolitano), who was in the pocket, went to the Pocono Pike and came within a neck of being the king of the day, finishing second. Dandy Ideal tried to get through down on the cones, but he may have been in tight quarters and lost third to the closer I Did It Myway (Ridge Warren), both of them a length back of the winner. 

Manolete has earned $653,517 and won 10 times in 29 starts for trainer Bruce Saunders and the ownership of M&L of Delaware LLC and M&M Harness Racing LLC. He returned $6.80 to win.

There were two conditioned events for class-climbers, one on each gait, each worth $24,648. The pacers were topped by the horses who sat 1-2 all the way around, as the Huntsville-Under Your Spell gelding Gretzky The Great ($9.40) defended the pocket behind sharp-leaving pole-sitter Jabbar (Anthony Napolitano) and waited until the stretch. Then, in a clash of athlete monikers, Gretzky The Great caught Jabbar in 1:50.4, making up ground in a :27.3 final quarter while winning by a neck. Charge Me Up (Warren) was third. Simon Allard drove the five-year-old winner, who is now two-for-two for trainer Darren Taneyhill and owner P T Stable.

The trotting division of the sub-feature resulted in a victory for the Bar Hopping-Holtby Hanover sophomore entire Honolulu Hanover ($18.60), a winner in 1:56.3. The meet’s leading driver, Tyler Buter, waited just off the pace with the colt then sprang a big move on the far turn. Favoured pacesetter Camera Man (Kakaley) broke stride, and once gifted with the lead, Honolulu Hanover defeated the horse caught behind the breaker, Te Amo Lindy (George Napolitano Jr.), by 1-3/4 lengths. Scudo Hanover (Jim Marohn Jr.) lost the photo for second. Pocono’s leading trainer, Ron Burke, conditions the winner for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, William Switala, and James Martin.

Spring Blake ($17.60) rallied from way off the pace in the $22,535 handicap for the top claiming pacers, holding off late charger Justasec N (Anthony Napolitano) by a neck in 1:52.4 for his third win in his last four trips behind the gate. Team Buter/Burke, the Pocono leaders, combined for another win, here for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, and Phil Collura.

George Napolitano Jr. won the day’s last race to capture top honours on the 15-race card with three wins. Doublers included drivers Allard, Beckwith, Kakaley, Anthony Napolitano, and Buter, and the sole two-time winning trainer, Ron Burke.

Monday’s 1 p.m. card at Pocono will feature the eight $25,000 USD divisions of Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championships. The horse in the spotlight will be Lionheart Hanover, a trotter who would become only the second Standardbred to win his points title and his Championship at both two and three. There will also be a 1 p.m. card on Tuesday.

(PHHA/Pocono)