Pacing distaffs get the spotlight

WILKES-BARRE PA – Pacing distaffs ascending the class ladder got the harness racing spotlight on Tuesday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with the $18,000 "nw 7 races" feature going to the Rock N Roll Heaven mare Angels Rockn Pink in 1:53.

 

Driver Marcus Miller made every pole a winning one with the John Butenschoen trainee, defeating favored I Wish You Well by a length while raising her lifetime earnings to $218,454 for Crawford Farms Racing.

 

There were also two $16,000 races for the "n/w 5 races" set, with both winners taking new marks of 1:52.4. In one, the Sportsmaster mare Frog Pond Princess, who had a seasonal mark of 9-0-4-3 vs. "nw 6" types at Yonkers, found the drop, the switch in track, and scratching in from the AE list just the ticket for her 2017 breakthrough, winning by 1¼ lengths for driver George Napolitano Jr., trainer Lance Hudson, and owner William Hartt. In the other, the Western Ideal filly Ideal Plan took the lead from favored Beach Club late on the first turn, set the pace, then used a 28 last quarter to come home strongly and foil the potential pocket rocket by a half-length for driver Scott Zeron, trainer Casie Coleman, and the partnership of West Wins Stable, Jim Fielding, and Kevin McKinlay.

 

Finally, a mention should go to Meteoric, a three-year-old gelding who conquered a $14,000 "nw 3 races" field of trotters in 1:52.4, winning by 11½ lengths for driver Joe Bongiorno, trainer Richard Johnson, and owner Mahlon Martin. The sophomore certainly has the pedigree to stand him well in stakes action, as a son of Explosive Matter and having a third dam who produced the ill-fated Hambletonian favorite Dancer's Crown.