Somebeachsomewhere gelding victorious in feature pace

WILKES-BARRE PA – Top harness racing pacer Ruthless Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere) lived up to his name Saturday afternoon (Oct 01) at The Downs and Mohegan Sun Pocono, going wire-to-wire in 1:51.1 to capture the featured $25,000 fast-class pace.

George Napolitano Jr. sent the gelding to the lead before the :27 quarter, then all but won the race by being able to back off the half to :56.2. The outer tier came up during the racing to the 1:24.2 three-quarters, but they never threatened, and Ruthless put in a :26.4 last quarter without heavy labor to be 2¾ lengths clear of first-over Carlisimo at the finish.

RUTHLESS HANOVER REPLAY

Since he put up the world-class fractions of :25, :51.4, and 1:19.1 on September 4 before finishing second to Allywag Hanover in that one’s all-age track record-equaling mile of 1:47.3 at Philly, Ruthless Hanover beat the top-class horses at Philly and now at Pocono. The five-year-old has been in the FFA mix for seemingly a long time, yet his earnings went only to $309,673 for the brother tram of trainer Tom and owner John Cancelliere.

The skies opened up as the horses warmed up for the $17,500 co-featured pace, but the Bettor’s Delight gelding Ilikemebettor A didn’t mind the ungracious reception in his U.S. debut, taking a North American mark of 1:50.2 (his lines showed him winning in a 1:49.4 rate in Australia in May, his previous start). Marcus Miller backed off a speed duel to sit third, sat in again when the outer tier formed, then when it melted away he swung his horse two and three-wide, and Ilikemebettor A finished sharply to defeat One Eight Hundred by 1¼ lengths. Erv Miller conditions the very promising pacer for his Erv Miller Stable Inc. and Doug Overhiser.

ILIKEMEBETTOR A REPLAY

George Napolitano Jr. won four races Saturday, narrowing Matt Kakaley’s lead at the top of the drivers colony to 212-206. Trainer Andrew Adamczyk sent out three winners during the afternoon.

Pocono will be racing on Monday and Tuesday afternoons at 1:30 this coming week. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available here.

For complete race results, click here.

From the PHHA/The Downs