Treacherous Dragon, the top three-year-old pacing filly in North America this far into 2022, will be racing at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Sunday (June 26) in one of two $67,316 divisions of the third preliminary leg of her division’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes competition.
Treacherous Dragon is a daughter of Captaintreacherous who races for Hot Lead Farm LLC. She earned $299,612 at two, and so far is improving on her good form of last year. She has won all five of her 2022 starts, including a Pennsylvania All-Stars race at Pocono in her seasonal debut on May 8 and a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes event at Harrah’s Philly on May 29. In her last two starts, she won the elimination and then the final of the $401,000 Fan Hanover Stake, with these lofty credentials bringing her the #8 slot among the Top Ten horses in all of North American harness racing.
Tim Tetrick will retain his usual seat in the sulky behind Treacherous Dragon as the pair start from post five in a six-horse field. In an interesting move, the filly has switched barns from one former Trainer of the Year (Brett Pelling) to that of another (Nancy Takter). Trot Insider has learned that the top two finishers in the 2022 Fan Hanover Final, Treacherous Dragon and Wickedly Innocent have both exited the Pelling barn.
Among her competition, Sweet And Feisty has posted a win in both the Stallion Series and then the Sire Stakes, and Lydeo has been second in both her Sires starts. But it would be hard to see Treacherous Dragon going off as anything but a well-backed favourite.
Another daughter of Captaintreacherous, Captain Cowgirl, is likely to draw much support in the other Sire Stakes section off a thumping 1:49.3 in a PASS event at The Meadows on June 11; Tim Tetrick is also listed behind Captain Cowgirl. Additional fine racing will be provided by four $20,000 Stallion Series divisions for this classification; nobody won in both the legs of the Stallion Series to date, but no fewer than five winners at this level are among the scheduled participants.
First post for the Sunday card is 5 p.m., with program pages available at the PHHA website.
(with files from PHHA / Pocono)