Lyons River Pride, second upon coming to the U.S. after campaigning at Mohawk, improved on that finish by one position in a $16,000 conditioned pace Tuesday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
The sophomore Somebeachsomewhere miss, owned by Geoffrey Lyons Mound, brushed to the lead past the quarter pole and then held off inside rallier Mother Of Art by a head in 1:53.
Lyons River Pride had shown her quality by being race-timed in 1:51.1 at The Meadowlands in her last start, giving the crowd the confidence to back her down to 3-5 odds, and while that confidence may have been shaken as Mother Of Art tightened the gap in the Pocono Pike, it was not broken at the wire as Lyons River Pride raised her earnings to $153,389 for driver Jim Taggart, Jr. and trainer Buzzy Sholty.
Classic Carpet unleashed a strong stretch kick to overhaul her rivals by 1-1/2 lengths and win the $15,500 mares co-featured pace in 1:53. Standing out in stark relief to the rest of the card at press time -- eight of the first nine favourites won -- Classic Carpet was the longest shot on the board in race ten despite having won two of her last three starts, but the Western Terror belied the odds by storming her own last split in :27.3 to win for owner/trainer John Leggio.
We forgot to mention the driver? But you could have guessed that one -- the longest shot on the board was driven by Pocono's King Of The Longshots, Marcus Miller.
There are only three cards left in the 2016 harness racing season at The Downs -- this Saturday night the 19th, a week from today (Tuesday the 22nd), and then closing night the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the 26th.
(PHHA/Pocono)