A hot battle on the front end tired out the favourites and set the $16,000 claiming handicap pacing feature up for a closer, with the Mach Three gelding Burning Midnight filling that role nicely as he won the Saturday afternoon feature at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in 1:51.1.
Mark With a K, the second choice, was insistent on controlling the pace from the pole, putting up a searing :25.3 opening quarter to force tucks, then got a breather to a :55 half. Favoured Razors Edge then charged up first-over on him, with those two engaging in a 1:22.2 battle to the three-quarters.
Burning Midnight then made the winning move for Anthony Napolitano, moving three-wide from third-over at the three-quarters and circling to contention, then having the most late. The 2-3-4 horses, Bellows Binge, Butter Bay Hanover, and Just N Ace, were all closer to the grandstand side than the tiring horses occupying the inside, but they couldn’t catch Burning Midnight, who is trained by Darren Taneyhill for owner Robert Main – and who returned 10-1 despite just missing in photos in two of three starts at this level.
The recent Down Under import Deltasun A had first-over Max breathing down his neck through the stretch of the $14,000 trotting feature, with pocket-sitter Fashion Creditor gaining up the Pocono Pike, but the Tenotrump gelding showed true grit to eke out a decision in 1:53, a Stateside mark. Deltasun A, now 2-for-3 in North America after showing winning tendencies in the Southern Hemisphere (19-for-53), was driven by George Napolitano Jr., trainer Andrew Harris, and owners OB Stables, A Harris Racing LLC, and Michael Goldberg Racingllc.
The Roll With Joe sophomore pacing gelding Scootnroll ran his career record to 10-to-12 in a $12,000 conditioned pace, brushing to the lead early and then holding off Billy Lincoln N, one of his two conquerors, by a neck in 1:51.1. Unraced at two, Scootnroll came to Pocono after having won his first six starts in New York state, and locally he is 6-4-2-0, with the losses by a neck and a half-length (those small margins costing him $6,000 in purses, or $1,000 a foot). Tyler Buter drove the talented three-year-old, who now has $47,850 on his card, for trainer Todd Buter and owners Rick and Geoffrey Howles.
Anthony and George Napolitano Jr. each had three victories to lead the driving colony.
There are only two cards left in the 2020 Pocono season, both next week at 12:30 p.m. – on Tuesday the 10th, and then Saturday the 14th. On closing day, there will be a mandatory distribution in the Rainbow Pick 5 bet in the final five races, with $239,477.19 being carried over into the very last races of the season.