The field of seven assembled for Saturday’s (Aug. 17) $30,000 Great Northeast Open Series pacing event at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono boasts a combined 43 per cent success rate this year and 38 per cent lifetime, and three of the most frequent visitors to Victory Lane are the favourites.
None Bettor A, who has won nine of 12 starts this year, has been tabbed as the 5-2 morning-line favourite from post four. New trainer Andrew Harris selected the track’s leading driver, George Napolitano Jr., to handle the Bettors Delight gelding. None Bettor A won nine straight races before finishing third behind last season’s Horse of the Year McWicked in the Gerrity Pace at Saratoga in his last start on July 20.
Starting just to None Bettor A's right is Highalator, a 10-time winner this year, with Jenny Bier using regular driver Richard Still behind the son of Somebeachsomewhere. A winner in the Ben Franklin Consolation, the Van Rose Pace, and a Great Northeast leg at The Downs already this year, Highalator boasts a 13-for-21 lifetime record over the Pocono oval and is rated as the 3-1 second choice.
Backstreet Shadow, an eight-time winner this season, drew the outside post seven for trainer Ron Burke and driver Pat Berry. Backstreet Shadow has won his last three races in impressive fashion, staring with a 1:47.4 victory at The Meadowlands, then a 1:48.4 win on Adios Day at The Meadows, and then back to New Jersey, where he lowered his mark to 1:47.3 on Hambletonian Day.
Another longtime Pocono favorite, Scott Rocks (post two, trainer Hunter Oakes, driver Fern Paquet Jr.), would break the $1 million lifetime earnings mark with a win or a second-place finish. Slick Tony, Havefaithinme N,and Beach Boogie are the early mutuel outsiders, but all have shown they can be very competitive with some racing fortune.
The top point earners in Great Northeast preliminaries earn their way into the $100,000 series finals, to be held over 1-1/4 miles at Pocono on Sept. 9.
(with files from the PHHA)