This coming racing week at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, each of the four racing cards will present a $50,000 Championship race in the Bobby Weiss Series for developing three-year-olds. Each day except Sunday will also feature a $20,000 consolation for Weiss competitors who did not earn enough points to secure a place in the Championship.
Named after the retired Pocono trackman who helped make the local racing surface into one of the best in North American harness racing, the Weiss series each staged three preliminary legs for up-and-coming sophomores, and after many competitive races in each division in each week, the best will get to go for the big money this week.
Saturday’s Championship is for three-year-old pacing colts, with the Heston Blue Chip colt All Class (Heston Blue Chip) the early favorite. All Class won both his Weiss prelims, last week coming home in :26.3 against the wind and under a hold, and he will look to keep his lifetime record unblemished as he starts from post six for driver Jason Bartlett. In this group, there were no fewer than seven different preliminary winners, and everybody will be primed to get after a big share of the big money.
Sunday’s headliner will be for three-year-old trotting colts, and Bestfriend Volo has been given the favourite’s mantle as he begins from starting slot three for driver Tyler Buter. A Walner gelding, Bestfriend Volo won handily in the first two Weiss prelims for his group, then took last week off. Moni Book (post four, driver Marcus Miller) also was a double winner in the preliminaries.
The three-year-old pacing fillies going postward on Monday will have to contend with the Betting Line filly C Is For Cookie (Betting Line), the only Weiss competitor to have visited Victory Lane after all three weeks of Weiss prelim action. Scott Zeron hasn’t had to really ask his filly, who starts from the rail, for maximum effort yet, but that question may come on Monday as C Is For Cookie faces five other Weiss winners, including double prelim winner Relentless Julie.
In Tuesday’s trotting filly ranks, Kaddari (pictured above) has made only two lifetime starts, with both being clear victories in the Weiss. The daughter of Walner was a $375,000 yearling and she will have the advantage of beginning from the rail for Team Melander in search of her third win. A Good Chardonnay and Quite Fast each won two prelims in this division, but they are burdened here with posts six and seven, respectively. As much as any horse, sire Walner was the big story in this grouping, as he fathered seven of the eight Weiss prelim winners.
Post times for this week’s cards will be 1 p.m. on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday and 6 p.m. on Sunday, with the $50,000 Weiss Championships slotted for race ten during each day’s fourteen-race card. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available on the PHHA website.