Ruthless Hanover, the fastest horse ever on a five-eighths-mile track, won for the second start in a row at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, taking the $38,732 Winners Over Handicap Pace in 1:49.4 on Saturday, Oct. 24.
George Napolitano Jr., who handled the Somebeachsomewhere-Rockaroundthetrack gelding in his first three wins, his world-record mile and last week, looked at a three-hole tuck on the first turn, declined it near the :26.4 opener and went on to command before the :55.2 half. Ruthless Hanover had nobody beside him passing the 1:22.2 three quarters and was still clear at headstretch, then withstood the late rush of Fifth And Five (Brett Beckwith) by a half-length. Captinhammerhead A (Braxten Boyd) finished third.
Team Cancelliere – trainer Tom and owner John – saw their nine-year-old evergreen pacer boost his earnings to $1,265,395 with his 34th victory in 94 career starts and 12th lifetime at Pocono. The win price was $4.
Completing a training triple for Darren Taneyhill, favoured Goliath Hanover ($4.20) grinded first-over, made the lead, then kept his advantage to the wire to win the $26,056 second-level fast-class conditioned pace in 1:51.1. Stag Party (George Napolitano Jr.), right on the back of the victorious five-year-old Betting Line-Gallie Bythe Beach gelding, got within a neck of him at the finish, but Goliath Hanover prevailed for driver Brett Beckwith and owner P T Stable. Up The Creek (Braxten Boyd) was third.
Taneyhill also won with Whiskey Breath ($4.60) and Art Of Revenge ($3.80), raising his seasonal average to 22.3 per cent with 72 wins from 323 starts. He is second in the Pocono standings, now seven wins behind Ron Burke.
The top trot on the card was for developing horses with a $24,648 purse, and the four-year-old Fiftydallarbill-Skyla Blue gelding Fiftyshadesofblu ($57.20) certainly didn’t race like a usual 27-1 shot in tying his mark of 1:54.1. Braxten Boyd had to make two moves with the winner, yet Fiftyshadesofblu could still beat out Jog On Col (Jim Pantaleano) coming up the Pocono Pike by a nose for trainer Britney Dillon and the Joseph Musser Trust. Onemore Volo (George Napolitano Jr.) completed the top three.
Pocono dedicated a race to the memory of Scott Knight, the British Columbia horseman who lost his life in a racing accident at Desert Park last week. When Big Ego matched the fastest time of the day, 1:49.4, in winning that race, there was no one more thrilled than trainer Sabrina Shaw, who had worked with Knight earlier in her career.
Doubling on the card were trainer Brandon Presto and drivers Simon Allard, Matt Kakaley, George Napolitano Jr. and Jim Pantaleano.
Racing at Pocono resumes Monday at 1 p.m. with three $30,000 USD divisions in each of two Simpson Stakes for three-year-old fillies: the Elma Trot and the Hardie Hanover Pace. There will also be a carryover into the fifth-race Pick 5 wager.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)