The sizzling pacer Terror Time A won his sixth straight race Saturday night at the Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, taking the biggest purse race of the evening, the card’s $18,000 opener, in 1:51.1 – but for the fourth time after his last seven races, he’ll start his next day in a different barn.
The $25,000 claimer, an altered son of Western Terror, didn’t let a little thing like being parked out for 11/16 of a mile, as he ran away and hid from his opposition, scoring by eight lengths for driver George Napolitano, Jr., trainer Chris Oakes, and owner Hunter Oakes.
But the connections of trainer Rene Allard haltered Terror Time A for the $25,000 tag, although Team Oakes has certainly done well by the horse; for them in two different stints in this recent run, he’s 5-4-0-1-$33,920, and they’ve gained $2,000 in purchase price along the way.
In fact, for the year Terror Time A is now 29-11-3-6-$109,005, despite never racing for a purse higher than tonight’s $18,000.
The “Terror Time A claiming duel” just might continue, too – at the top of the Pocono trainers’ standings, it was Allard 95, Oakes 93 going into tonight’s card, and a horse like this could be pivotal.
As hard as it may be to believe, Terror Time A actually saw more of the inner pylons than did Oakes’ winner in the night’s $15,500 trotting feature, the Kadabra gelding Caulfield, who won in 1:55 for Synerco Ventures Inc.
Although stuck with the outermost post eight, driver Sean Bier had this horse in play throughout despite traveling the overland route for just over three-quarters of the mile, and he went on well to the wire to score by 1-1/2 lengths over 56-1 shot Brookroad Knight.
The $15,500 pacing feature saw Somewhere in L A, best remembered for his $500,000 sophomore season of 2014, matched his trotting cohort Caulfield in overcoming the outside post eight and winning in 1:52.2.
The Somebeachsomewhere gelding, trained by Ron Burke for Our Horse Cents Stables, J&T Silva Stables LLC along with Deo Volente Farms LLC and T L P Stable, only had to travel most of the :26.2 first quarter outside to get the lead for driver Pat Berry; they then put up middle fractions of :54.4 and 1:22.3, then fought a stiff stretch headwind and a rail shooting Kid PK to prevail by a half-length to make his record 2-for-2 since invading Pocono.
(PHHA/Pocono)