A renaissance at The Downs at Mohegan Sun

The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono previewed its 51st season of harness racing, which begins this Saturday night, at a Wednesday noontime press gathering for a group of local media whom Downs Vice President of Racing Operations Dale Rapson called "people who have been great in working with us over the years," citing the press, local horsemen, and Mohegan staffers as major parts of a renaissance which has led, as Rapson noted, "from Pocono being a place you went if your horses wouldn't do elsewhere" into one of the sport's North American leaders.

 

Rapson, starting his 38th season of employment at the northeast Pennsylvania oval, mentioned the track's signature cards, Sun Stakes Saturday (July 2) and Super Stakes Saturday (August 20), each offering over $2 million in purses, along with the inaugural Pennsylvania Classics for the state's three-year-old pacers which will offer $1 million in purses as part of a Kentucky Derby Day doubleheader card at The Downs. "We'll be bringing back (baseball great) Pete Rose to Pocono this year," he stated, then mentioned that "we are in negotiations for a couple more bigname sports figures to be making appearances at Pocono this year."

 

The related 1-2 punch that brought Pocono the most to its lofty position today was the authorization and then introduction of slots and casino gaming, the former of which led to the interest in and purchase of Pocono by the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. Michael Bean, president/CEO of Mohegan Sun Pocono and president/GM of the Downs racetrack, noted in his remarks, "It seems hard to believe that it's been ten years since Mohegan came to northeast Pennsylvania. Since then, we've grown from Pocono Downs racetrack to become a world-class entertainment destination," with a full modern hotel, first-class restaurants and shopping, and of course racing and gaming.

 

During the press conference, held in the popular Pacer's Clubhouse, the media had as a backdrop sixteen qualifying races. Fastest performer of the day was the Armbro Deuce pacing gelding Rude Boy, wire-to-wire in 1:53.2 for driver Matt Kakaley and trainer Jason Robinson; equally-impressive was the Swan For All trotting gelding Sonnyforall, who stormed his third quarter in 27.4 to grab the lead entering the final turn and drawing off in 1:54.4 for trainer/driver Bill Mullin.

 

Pocono will open its 2016 racing season starting this Saturday on a Saturday-Tuesday basis in March, adding Sundays on April 3 and Mondays on April 11; this four-day-a-week configuration will be the main schedule for the year at Pocono. In a change, Sunday racing will begin at 7:30 p.m.; the trotters and pacers will be called to first post at 6:30 p.m. on the other three nights. The racing on the thoroughbred Triple Crown Days will again be a featured highlight, as will the early-season $250,000 Bobby Weiss Series for developing youngsters.