Quebec-owned YS Lotus was brilliant Saturday night in taking the $30,000 Bobby Weiss Series Championship for male pacers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in 1:49.3.
Yves Sarrazin's altered son of If I Can Dream had first acquired a reputation for his ironsidedness, racing six times in 18 days between the Weiss and the Sagamore Hill Series at Yonkers Raceway. Before last week’s final Weiss prelim, he had had a full week off, and he took a new mark of 1:50.2. With another seven-day rest, he lowered that mark by four-fifths of a second Saturday.
Victory At Last and Shadow Margeaux engaged in a bitter duel for the front end in a :26 opener, with YS Lotus five lengths off them early in third, but driver Simon Allard had the winner rolling in front of the stands, hitting the half in :54. Favoured Major Uptrend, an impressive winner of his only two Weiss starts, came first-up down the backstretch, but “YS” and Allard kept distance between them past the 1:21.1 three-quarters and all the way to the finish, winning by two and a quarter lengths.
Trainer Rene Allard sent out not only the winner, but also Vance Bayama (driver Mike Simons), who claimed third after a troubled trip.
In the $25,000 Winners Over pacing event, Ideal Matters was a “pocket rocket,” winning by a nose in 1:50 for driver George Napolitano Jr. and owner/trainer Gil Garcia-Herrera. Favoured Sparky Mark just missed with his late rally, while pacesetter Mustang Art held well for third, beaten a length, after cutting fractions of :26.3, :53.4, and 1:22.
Tonight’s Weiss Championship was the first of the four to be staged at Pocono this spring – the female pacers and male trotters will go to the gate on Tuesday, with the female trotters wrapping up Weiss action on Wednesday. Here’s a preview of each Championship:
FEMALE PACE – Tuesday’s race four may have one horse most highly-regarded, but a four-horse entry being favoured at the windows. The Beach Nextdoor (PP8, driver Jim Morrill Jr.) comes to the Championship off three straight Weiss prelim wins, but she’ll have to deal with a four-horse Ron Burke stable entry that all draw inside of her: Life Is A Beach (PP1, Matt Kakaley), who hung a nose loss on The Beach Nextdoor in the first preliminary leg; Allthatjazz De Vie (PP3, Matt Kakaley), also a Weiss prelim winner; Donttellruss (PP5), who was two-for-two in the Weiss when teamed with driver Andrew McCarthy; and Caviart Shelly (PP7, Andy Miller).
MALE TROT – JL Cruze, already with 10 wins this year including the finals of the Singer Memorial, Shiaway St. Pat, and Super Bowl series, will be the heavy favourite to add the Weiss Championship to those gaudy credentials, starting from post five for Hall of Fame driver John Campbell after being perfect in two Weiss prelims. Opulent Yankee (Andy Miller), the only horse to defeat JL Cruze this year (twice) and with a Weiss prelim to his credit, has the burden of starting one post outside his arch-rival in the 10th race Tuesday.
FEMALE TROT – Dress For Success (PP2, Matt Kakaley) was the only horse in any category to go for four-for-four in the Weiss preliminaries, but come Wednesday’s 12th race she’s likely to be second choice to Classic Belisima (PP6, David Miller), who was overpowering in being perfect during three prelims, one in 1:53.3, a full second better than the best winning time of Dress For Success.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)