The Standardbred sport's "glamour division" of 3-year-old pacing males came to Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon, with over $260,000 in stakes action among Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Pennsylvania Stallion Series competition.
Last year's Dan Patch Award winner at two, Louprint, now has two Sires victories in two seasonal starts after winning in 1:50 2/5. Driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. sent him right to the lead and put up relatively soft fractions of 27 3/5, 56 2/5 and 1:24 1/5 for this caliber of horse, but Twisted Destiny, winner of six straight over two years and faster in winning his first PaSS start than Louprint, was looming right on his back and then went to the Pocono Pike. But such was the measure of confidence Wrenn Jr. had in his horse and ability that he never looked to his left at the challenger, even as he gained fractionally into a 26 1/5 kicker; Twisted Destiny came up a half length shy.
The victorious son of Sweet Lou, now a winner of $778,460, is trained by Ron Burke for Burke Racing Stable LLC. and Weaver Bruscemi LLC., Phil Collura, and Larry Karr. (You'll be reading more about many of those names later in this story.)
The fastest Sires split, 1:49 3/5, was captured by the Captaintreacherous colt Prince Hal Hanover, third in the Sires in his seasonal bow. Here, the sophomore hit the top after a 27 1/5 quarter and went on to stop the timer at intervals of 55 2/5 and 1:22 4/5 en route to a 2 3/4 length win. David Miller was driving for trainer Dr. Ian Moore and Prince Hal Hanover Stable as the "Prince" lowered his speed mark
The Bettor's Wish colt Wedlock Blue Chip posted a mild 5-1 upset in the other Sires division, coming out late on the backstretch and gaining momentum after splits of 27, 56 1/5 and 1:23 1/5, stopping the clock in a lifetime best-equaling 1:51 3/5 while a half-length ahead of 2024 PA Sires champion Papi's Rocket. David Miller and Polie Mallar were the trainer/driver team behind Wedlock Blue Chip for owners Richard Cortese and Donald Hawk.
► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter
To gain admittance to the Stallion Series winner's circle, you needed one of two credentials: you had to be a son of Sweet Lou – there were four of them – or Papi Rob Hanover – he racked up a triple.
Lou's Albano, a son of Sweet Lou, was the "bomber" of the afternoon at $64.60, and he also posted the fastest StS clocking, taking a mark of 1:50 3/5 for driver Jason Bartlett and trainer Ron Burke. Two other victorious Sweet Lous were driven by the nephew-uncle combination of Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and Peter Wrenn: the former getting a new mark of 1:50 4/5 on Compensate Me for the Burke Brigade, and the latter visiting the Pocono winner's circle for the first time since June 8, 1996 (you could look it up) after Odds On Outlier, trained by Melanie Wrenn, won in 1:51 4/5. The fourth Sweet Lou was the Tim Tetrick-driven Waffle Blue Chip for trainer Brett Pelling in a lifetime best 1:51 2/5.
Pelling came back to add two more Stallion Series wins with sons of Papi Rob Hanover: with I'm The One, also driven by Tetrick and triumphing in 1:52, and with Beach Club Monty, whom Scott Zeron guided to a 1:51 success. Completing the "Papi Rob" triumphant trio was Makes Sense, clocked in 1:52, with Andrew McCarthy driving for trainer Robert Cleary.
And we'll quickly mention the four non-stakes horses who either lowered or tied the 2025 Pocono standard for the respective gaits.
Charlie May and Mac's Delight both had paced here in 1:49 1/5, but that number was left in the stonedust, finally resting at 1:47 4/5 after Southwind Gendry won wire-to-wire for driver Tyler Buter and trainer Ron Burke - the leaders in their respective categories at Pocono this year. That clocking also missed Bigtime Hero's 11-year-old record for older pacing geldings by just a fifth.
The old seasonal mark had first been lowered to 1:48 3/5 by Ken Hanover, for Team Miller / Mallar, who later won a Sire Stake, and that number was then reduced a tick by Desperate Man, driven by the three-time defending Pocono champion Matt Kakaley for trainer Travis Alexander.
And not forgetting the trotters: Altus Hanover's 1:52 3/5 fastest time on the trot was matched by All Wrapped Up, driven by George Napolitano Jr. for trainer Joe Bongiorno.
To summarize the horsemen who had more than one winner on the day: Ron Burke trained six (all of which are part-owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC. and five of which are part-owned by Weaver Bruscemi LLC.). David Miller won three races, including two Sire Stakes, and Tyler Buter, who had zero wins through the first 13 races, took home the last three. Among trainers, Brett Pelling conditioned three Stallion Series winners. Doubles were produced by drivers Tim Tetrick and Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and by trainer Roland "Polie" Mallar.
Sunday racing is back on the Pocono schedule, with first post at 6 p.m.; featured on that card will be three $30,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars series for 3-year-old trotting colts and geldings, with recent Pennsylvania Sire Stakes winner The Fix Is In being joined by three Stallion Series winners. There will also be a $2,069.09 carryover into the last race Hi-5 pool.
--press release (PHHA/Pocono)--