The two top-rated horses in 2015 North American harness racing, the three-year-old geldings Pinkman and Wiggle It Jiggleit, will continue their battle for #1 status in the sport this Saturday night during the $2,435,000 Super Stakes Saturday card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
The super sophomores head to post in consecutive races: first up is Pinkman in the $500,000 Colonial Trot, and then Wiggle It Jiggleit goes to post in the $500,000 Battle of the Brandywine Pace.
The trifecta of three-year-old races, which include the $350,000 Valley Forge Pace for fillies, are filled according to 2015 earnings: the nine having the highest seasonal bankrolls are gathered in the 'main event' races, with the next nine in order in Consolation I, and the nine after that in Consolation II.
Another high-profile event Saturday is the $100,000 Sebastian K Invitational Trot, a race which will double as a retirement ceremony for the trans-Atlantic champion who will be honoured in special on-track ceremonies before he heads to stallion duties. Ironically, the likely favourite is the Sebastian K is JL Cruze –- the #3-ranked horse in North America, and the one who defeated Sebastian K by a nose in his only 2015 outing before his retirement.
Here are profiles of the Big Three three-year-old events, followed by a look at the Sebastian K Trot and other powerful races on the Saturday card:
COLONIAL TROT: $500,000 main event race 11; $200,000 Consolation I race 7; $100,000 Consolation II race 3. Stakes record: 1:52.1, Googoo Gaagaa.
Pinkman, fresh off his two-heat, world record-setting victory in The Hambletonian, was aided by the draw with post two in the field of nine. Yannick Gingras is listed to drive Pinkman, a son of Explosive Matter who has eight wins and one second in nine seasonal starts, with his 1:51 mark from the second heat of the Hambletonian the current world record for three-year-old trotting geldings, and his $1.1 million in 2015 earnings raising his career total to more than $1.7 million (By the way, his chief foe in the Hambletonian, the filly Mission Brief, will be racing in Pennsylvania some 27 hours earlier, heading the $174,000 Moni Maker Trot at The Meadows Friday night.)
Pinkman will be find some familiar faces on the track beside him Saturday, as five of the nine Colonial entrants are, like he, part of the trotting superstable of Jimmy Takter. The “other” quartet – Uncle Lasse (PP3, driver David Miller), The Bank (PP6, Takter listing himself), Canepa Hanover (PP8, John Campbell back in the sulky), and French Laundry (PP9, Brett Miller) – are not just 'make-weight' entrants either, with combined seasonal earnings of $900,000 among them.
Crazy Wow (PP1, trainer Ron Burke, driver Tim Tetrick) and Wicker Hanover (PP5, Noel Daley, Corey Callahan) seem to have the best chance to upset the Takter applecart. Crazy Wow was third in the Beal Final here in June, behind Pinkman and Uncle Lasse, while Wicker Hanover handed Pinkman his only defeat of the year, in the Beal eliminations.
BATTLE OF THE BRANDYWINE -- $500,000 main event race 12; $200,000 Consolation I race 8; $100,000 Consolation II race 4. Stakes record: 1:47.4, Sunshine Beach.
Wiggle It Jiggleit, an altered son of Mr Wiggles, has achieved slightly-higher earnings than Pinkman so far -–$1.2 million, while winning 15 of 17 starts and showing speed, maneuverability, and courage. The winner of the Hempt Final here at Pocono early this season, Wiggle It Jiggleit will have driver Montrell Teague alert early. The duo will be starting from the rail, and Teague’s job will be to get him to the front at some point without a terrific usage of resources. That fate befell Wiggle It Jiggleit in the recent Cane Pace, where he was involved in fractions of :25.4, :52,1, and 1:20.4 before tiring to fourth in the stretch and out of the best company for the first time in his career.
The four horses who have finished ahead of Wiggle It Jiggleit in his lifetime (he raced only once at two, winning here) are all in the big Battle. Wazikashi Hanover (PP7, trainer Joann Looney-King, driver Tim Tetrick, #7 in the North American polls) caught Wiggle It Jiggleit in the stretch drive of the North America Cup at Mohawk, while the 1-2-3 Cane finishers are also here – in order of that race’s finish, Dealt A Winner (PP9, Mark Silva, David Miller), Artspeak (PP8, Tony Alagna, Scott Zeron), and Dudes The Man (PP2, Jessica Okusko, Corey Callahan). Dudes The Man also won the last big-money race for this division in Pennsylvania, the Adios at The Meadows on August 1.
VALLEY FORGE PACE -- $350,000 main event race 10; $150,000 Consolation I race 7; $75.000 Consolation II race 3. Stakes record: 1:48.4, I Luv The Nitelife.
A division desperately looking for a leader after a series of different winners in most of this year’s major events to date may find one emerge from the Valley Forge Pace.
The biggest 2015 bankroll in the collection of nine misses belongs to Bettor Be Steppin, a daughter of Bettors Delight who will begin from post four for trainer Joe Holloway and driver Corey Callahan. Over half of the seasonal winnings of Bettor Be Steppin came right at Pocono, when she won a multi-horse close finish to capture the $300,000 Lynch Final, taking her mark of 1:50.4.
In finding other ways tomeasure this evenly-matched group, the biggest career bankroll belongs to Sassa Hanover ($634,440, PP7, trainer Ron Burke, driver Yannick Gingras), while the fastest speed mark is held by Moonlit Dance (1:49 winning the recent Mistletoe Shalee Final, PP6, trainer Tony O'Sullivan, driver David Miller). Both of those fillies show solid credentials in their achievements and their connections, and are likely to contribute to this fairly wide-open affair.
OTHER BIG RACES SATURDAY
The $100,000 Sebastian K Trot (race 5) marks the return to the races after a five-week break of the Cinderella story JL Cruze, who started to build a following while winning the Weiss Series here in the spring and has gone on to win 16 of 18 starts and over $600,000 for trainer Eric Ell. John Campbell returns from a recent minor injury to guide JL Cruze from the middle of the nine-horse field. Along the way, JL Cruze has become the third-fastest trotter of all-time, behind only Sebastian K and Enough Talk (1:49.3 at Colonial) by virtue of his Graduate Series Final win in 1:49.4.
The card kicks off with a bang, as national stars Cinamony, Krispy Apple, Ooh Bad Shark, and Yagonnakissmeornot collide in the $50,000 Hanover Shoe Farms Pace for mares.
The $50,000 U.S.T.A. Pace for free-for-allers may turn out to be the national coming-out party for the unheralded Always At My Place (PP2, trainer Ron Burke, driver Matt Kalaley), who goes for his sixth win in a row after missing the world record for four-year-old pacing geldings by a tick here last Saturday, stopping the timer in 1:48.1 while pacing his own back half uncovered in :53.1 and winning under a hold.
The 14-race card at Pocono Saturday will start an hour earlier than usual, with first post listed at 5:30 p.m.The racing is part of a week-long celebration of Pocono’s 50th Anniversary, with fireworks after the races and an appearance by Pete Rose during the day’s activities.
(with files from PHHA/Pocono)