Lawless Shadow and Grace Hill capture Sun Stakes paces
August 21, 2021, from the PHHA/Pocono
Wilkes-Barre, PA — Lawless Shadow and driver Mark MacDonald used track geometry to perfect advantage on a speed-favoring day, bursting away to set the pace from the rail in the $300,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial on Saturday (Aug. 21) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and then holding off Perfect Sting in 1:48.2.
Lawless Shadow, Perfect Sting (post four), and Hellabalou (post six) all started the race in maximum gear, but as the first turn loomed and Lawless Shadow showed no signs of letting up, Perfect Sting tucked second and Hellabalou third, though still paying a price in the :25.2 red-hot opening quarter. MacDonald was able to back off the son of Shadow Play to a :54 half, then accelerated as Southwind Gendry came up first-over before the 1:21.2 three-quarters.
The Pocono “inner groove” on the warm (81 degrees) afternoon surfaced again as the horses off the pegs faded on the far turn, and the race came down to the leader and the pocket sitter, who kept eating into the leader’s advantage, but came up a nose shy as he continued a hard-luck campaign.
Lawless Shadow, the official winner of The Meadowlands Pace, has had better luck, and here he took a new mark while winning for trainer Dr. Ian Moore, co-owner with R G McGroup LTD, hockey great Serge Savard, and Frank Cannon, for whom he now has career earnings of $791,064, $558,625 of that this year.
“I was taking no prisoners from the rail with the two horses coming at me,” MacDonald said afterwards. “Coming to the wire, I knew Perfect Sting was a great horse, and it was a hard race to the wire.”
Dr. Ian Moore could have told MacDonald that he was in a good spot late: “I was afraid he might come up dull after being hung the mile last week, but warming up, I knew he would be ready to go today.”
$250,000 JAMES LYNCH MEMORIAL
The $250,000 James Lynch Memorial had a “Nifty” finish as trainer Richard “Nifty” Norman sent out the 1-2 finishers, with Grace Hill (Todd McCarthy) rallying in the stretch to catch pacesetting stablemate Fire Start Hanover by three-quarters of a length, reducing the Lynch record to 1:49.
The stablemates were away quickly, practically a necessity at Pocono through mid-card; the other well-regarded horses, Blue Diamond Eyes (post seven) and favored Hot Mess Express (post nine) had to settle third and fourth, respectively, before the :26.2 quarter. Fire Start Hanover, the 2020 divisional champion, made a second move to the lead and hit the half in a relatively moderate :55, then picked up the pace as Blue Diamond Eyes and Hot Mess Express came out down the back, forcing Fire Start Hanover to a 1:22 three-quarters.
The outside horses could not sustain their gains, as was the case with many horses on the card, which set the stage for Grace Hill, licking her chops in the pocket. Fire Start Hanover battled valiantly, but Grace Hill paced past for her third straight win.
“Andrew (Todd’s brother) had been driving this horse, but when he picked off I was glad to get the opportunity,” said Todd McCarthy. “She has been racing well, and the trip worked out fine. And Nifty had the 1-2 finish, right?”
He did, headed by Grace Hill, who also equaled her mark with the victory. The daughter of Always B Miki (after whom the Invitational pace on the card was named) is owned by Tom Hill, who got to see his horse at a reasonable hour in England for once in the afternoon Pocono extravaganza.
$200,000 HEMPT CONSOLATION I
Andrew McCarthy, in prime driving form, scored his third win during the first half of the card with the Somebeachsomewhere gelding Whichwaytothebeach, who ran his career record to 17-10-4-2-$289,658 while taking a new mark of 1:50.1. McCarthy moved Whichwaytothebeach from the pocket to the lead around Mysweetboymax nearing the quarter, before he could be hemmed in by parked horses. The Brett Pelling trainee was then able to handle everything for which he was asked, posting splits of :26.3, :54.2, and 1:22.1 before withstanding Mysweetboymax by 1-3/4 lengths for owners Alan Johnston and John Craig.
$100,000 HEMPT CONSOLATION II
For a horse who had won only twice this year, and both of those by a nose, the Sweet Lou colt Lou’s Pearlman showed he knew how to air it out, too, turning his Lasix debut into a nine length rout of some nice sophomores in 1:48.4. Yannick Gingras made two speed moves to control the pace through fractions of :27.2, :54.4, and 1:21.3, then paced strongly to the wire to increase his lifetime earnings to $297,181 for trainer Ron Burke and the ownership of Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Elizabeth Novak, and Howard Taylor.
$125,000 LYNCH CONSOLATION
Things weren’t looking so good for the Always B Miki filly Nashville Elgenna late in the backstretch, as Odds On Whitney had just stormed up in a :26.3 third quarter to take the lead from pacesetting Mackie Hanover, behind whom Nashville Elgenna was sitting. But Mackie Hanover stayed up on the bit, the outer tiers stalled, and the shuffled Nashville Elgenna had enough time to go to the Pocono Pike and catch Odds On Whitney by 1-1/4 lengths and lower her mark in 1:50.2. Andrew McCarthy drove the slight favorite to victory as she more than doubled her lifetime earnings to $111,200 for trainer Tony Alagna and owner Crawford Farms Racing.
