$20,000 features provided exciting card

WILKES-BARRE PA – The Director of Racing at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Rick Kane, introduced a new "nw of 9 races or $90,000 lifetime" class to his conditioned sheet, giving developing horses a bit more time before they are "thrown into the deep end" against the fast-class sharks, and the contests provided an exciting extra dimension to the harness racing at the mountain oval on Sunday, joining with the fast-class conditioned trot to form a trio of $20,000 features.

 

The "non-winners of 9" class featured a race on each gait, and first up were the trotters, with the Caviar Crown four-year-old gelding Wilberforce taking his third win in his last four starts in his 1:54 victory. Eric Carlson hustled Wilberforce to the front then backed off the half to 57.4, speeding up the journey home to a 56.1 clip so that favored Fashion Creditor, sixth at the half, had too much ground to make up although by the finish getting to within 2½ lengths of the winner in second.

 

Trainer Kris Rickert is the co-owner with Dale Wareham of Wilberforce, who illustrates the objective of the new class nicely: after winning out of "nw 7" company, last week the trotter was thrown in the winners-over which went to Homicide Hunter, whose 1:51.1 victory was within a fifth of the divisional record; although Wilberforce was a creditable fourth, he was not at this point quite ready for those bearcats, with horses like him benefiting from the intermediary transitional step of the new class.

 

The pacing "nw 9" made the same point, with Dreams Beachboy, dropping down after a second last week to Franklin FFA contestant Bushwacker after winning out of "nw 7," able to rally out of the pocket for a head win in 1:51.1 over pacesetting chalk Rock 'N Roll World, whom most would agree was also getting a class drop after finishing third to a couple of horses named Wiggle It Jiggleit and Freaky Feet Pete in the Graduate Final. Dreams Beachboy, a four-year-old altered son of Somebeachsomewhere who boosted his earnings over the six-figure bar for owners Crawford Farms Racing, marked the second successful collaboration of the evening between driver Eric Goodell and trainer Chris Oakes.

 

The upper-level conditioned trot was yet another chapter in the long-running Pocono saga known as "Those Battlin' Nap Brothers," as this time driver Anthony Napolitano and pacesetting Armor Hanover were able to turn back the challenge of first-over Celebrity Bugatti, driven by Anthony's brother George, by a head in a 1:53.2 mile. Trainer Doug Berkeley, also co-owner with Leslie Berkeley, has done a good conditioning job getting the fast but sometimes-fractious trotter to stay on gait, as he posted his third consecutive triumph in Sunday's event.

 

FINISHING LINES – "Those Battlin' Nap Brothers" seems to put on its best shows on Saturday nights at The Downs – last Saturday (July 23) George had six winners and Anthony, in his first card of racing back after a May 31 racing accident had kept him sidelined, drove five, with the brothers deadheating in the night's last race.

 

When the smoke cleared after this Saturday's races were completed, George finished the night with a 14-7-2-0-.579 scorecard, while Anthony's read 15-3-5-1-.407 and a check in every drive but the last race. Anthony also had two late-card triumphs with George second, some balm to the four occasions when the best view of George's back at the finish was afforded to Anthony, and then Anthony was just ahead of his brother Sunday in the fast-class trot … George drove three of Chris Oakes's four Saturday winners; then Eric Goodell guided the fourth and continued his recent good run with Oakes with the two combination victories on Sunday.