Thursday afternoon world records in harness racing are most common in about a month's time at a half-mile track in Ohio. Two-year-old pacing colt Al Papi etched his name in the record books with a historic mile on Thursday, Aug. 21 in Pennsylvania.
Sent off as the slight 3-5 choice in a $96,086 PaSS division at The Meadows, Al Papi and driver Yannick Gingras quickly established command of the five-horse field with 6-5 second choice and stablemate Melillo putting in steps from the rail for driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. as the wings of the gate folded.
Unstressed through a :27 opening quarter and :55.4 half, Al Papi appeared to be under a snug hold to Gingras down the backside as the third quarter was reached in 1:22.2. Toast Of The Town (Dave Palone) started to make a dent in the leader's cushion prompting slight encouragement from Gingras to stay strong in the stretch and win by a length in 1:49.2. Melillo recovered well to complete the top trio.
The time of the mile erased the existing 1:49.4 track record mark set by Fulton in 2022, and it established a new world record for two-year-old pacing colts on a five-eighths mile track, shared by Fulton with Pocono Downs' record holder Somestarsomewhere. For two-year-old male pacers, the 1:49.2 mile time matched the 1:49.2 mark taken by rookie gelding One More Laugh at Harrah's Chester in 2009.
“He was impressive last week and today he was super,” said Gingras after the world record effort. “Off those numbers he still had some left.”
A son of Papi Rob Hanover - Baron Remy, Al Papi ($3.40) is a Ron Burke-trained homebred of Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown, Pa., Jandt Silva- Purnel And Libby of Ocean Ridge, Fl., Larry Karr of Randolph, N.J. and Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Canonsburg, Pa. The colt now sports a record of 3-1-1 from five appearances. The win lifted his career earnings to $150,948.
Burke swept the Tyler B divisions of the PaSS when Frantic Hanover ($2.20) delivered as the 1-9 choice in the second $96,086 split. Tim Tetrick watched from third as Thain Hanover (David Miller) carved out a :27.4 opening quarter then brushed for the lead past the grandstand for the first time. Thai Hanover yielded to the public choice, who cleared to the top around the three-eighths mark. There was nary an anxious moment from that point. After a :56 half and 1:23.3 third station, Frantic Hanover calmly dashed home in :26.3 for the lifetime best 1:50 decision. Thai Hanover was next best, three lengths in arrears, with Aintplayinnice (Gingras) staying for the show dough.
Burke also trains Frantic Hanover, a son of Stay Hungry - Francessa, for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Brad Grant of Milton, Ont. and Knox Services Inc. of Mt. Vernon, Oh. Perfect in five appearances, Frantic Hanover sports $211,400 in his bank account. Tetrick described the colt as “growing and learning how to do racehorse stuff that makes my job as a driver easier.”
The Meadows also hosted three $27,777 PA Stallion Series splits for two-year-old pacers. Those victors included Southwind Spencer (1:52.4; $7.60) for driver David Miller and Doug Snyder, Easy Breeze (1:53.3; $3.00) for Miller and trainer Eddie Dennis and Loumelo Ball (1:53.1; $3.40) for Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and trainer Ron Burke.
In basketball, scoring a triple double is impressive and notable. On Thursday, Ron Burke notched what could be considered a double triple — winning three stakes races and three overnight races for a six-pack of visits to track photographer Chris Gooden on the afternoon program. In addition to the aforementioned three wins for his two-year-old pacers, the U.S. Hall of Fame trainer picked up tallies courtesy Can It Be Magic (1:55.4; $8.00) in the fifth race, Sweet N Fearless (1:50.4; $8.80) in the 11th and Muscle Joe (1:53.4; $5.60) in the penultimate dash on the 13-race card. The sport's all time leading trainer recently surpassed the 16,000 win mark, with career purses exceeding $377 million.
(Standardbred Canada)