Some sibling rivalry played out on the track with the Napolitano brothers, Anthony and George, vying for top driving honours on the afternoon during a 12-race Saturday, May 3 card at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania as they took the lion’s share of the features and dominated the day, ultimately tying with four wins each.
George was in the sulky behind the five-year-old Bettors Delight gelding Macs Delight (pictured above) as he equalled Charlie May for the distinction of fastest mile of the year at Pocono with a 1:49.1 victory in a $22,917 fast-class handicap pacing feature. Virgo (Simon Allard) blasted off the gate from the inside and hung up withering numbers of :27.3, :55.3 and 1:21.2 (yes, folks, that was a :25.4 third quarter); behind him, Macs Delight pulled out from third to go after the leader late in the backstretch, got a brief inside respite, then completed catching the speedy pacesetter by a neck in the last few yards for Team Cancelliere – trainer Tom and owner John.
George came right back in the next race going for a purse of $20,139 to post a 1:50 mile with Rush In, a four-year-old son of Heston Blue Chip who had pressure most of the way but went on successfully for trainer Linda Toscano and the partnership of Let It Ride Stables, Odds On Racing, South Mountain Stables and Island Sun Stable.
George also guided the horse who won the richest race of the day, a $23,611 trot for developing horses, with Ferretti, a six-year-old Creatine gelding who would not surrender the front end in a 1:53.2 victory for trainer/owner Anette Lorentzon. Anthony settled for the runner-up role here one length behind his brother after a first-over journey in rein to Finite.
Anthony’s biggest moment in the spotlight came in the $22,917 handicap pace for the track’s top claimers, rallying the nine-year-old Art Major gelding Belmont Major N from the pocket to win in 1:50.2 by a head over Lunar, driven by George. The winner of more than $470,000 comes from the barn of Lou Pena and is owned by Todd's Auto.
The only feature to elude the brothers was the $22,222 co-featured trot for rising talent. That race was taken by Ridge Warren and the six-year-old Pitagora Bi mare Dorotea Trio IT, who has now won four of her last five starts and took a new mark of 1:54, but she had to work hard to keep off Attis Rock and Braxten Boyd by a head for trainer Travis Alexander and M Spacc Stables, Tar Heel Racing, Alexander Racing Stable and Stephen Moss.
Driver Warren’s victory here, one of three on the card for him, did fit in well with a recurrent motif of the day: the Napolitanos won eight races and wear red and white, and Warren won three more and wears red and white, so 11 of the day’s 12 contests were won by that colour combination – the only other driver to break through the red-white barrier was the track’s leading driver in 2025, Tyler Buter. Drivers wearing red and white were 1-2 five times (George led Anthony 2-1 in that family feud), and one Trifecta was a 1-2-3 sweep for the day’s “featured colours.”
Sunday night racing at 6 p.m. joins the Pocono schedule for the next card, joining the present Saturday/Monday/Tuesday schedule at 1 p.m. to form the weekly pattern for the vast majority of the summer.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)