"Neither...rain nor...gloom of night stays this courier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds." -- Modification of unofficial motto of the U. S. Postal Service; actually a translation from Greek from the writings of Herodotus (c. 500 B.C.).
2,500 years later, the "unstoppable force" described above is named George Napolitano Jr., and the leading driver in North America delivered six of his charges to the winner's circle on a dark and stormy Wednesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Four of the victories came from the barn of high-percentage trainer Chris Oakes. And "George Nap" completed his "rounds" of the five-eighth-mile oval in "swift" fashion despite the off going: his three trotting winners averaged 1:56.1, while his three pacing triumphs averaged 1:53.4.
The six-bagger brings Napolitano's October total to 111, and his yearly tally to 710. That number gave him a cushion of 11 over Aaron Merriman, who had triumphed four times at Northfield Park on Wednesday at press time (with two races to go) to bring his yearly figure to 699. (Ron Wrenn Jr., two-time defending driving champion and third so far this year at 666, took off all his drives at Northfield Wednesday and is not scheduled to race again until Monday.)
(PHHA / Pocono)