Sun Stakes at Pocono
Temporal Hanover is impressive in $300,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial
August 20, 2022, by Ken Weingartner, USTA Media Relations Manager
Wilkes-Barre, PA — Temporal Hanover got the lead prior to the opening quarter and stayed on top from there, winning Saturday’s $300,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters by one length over Pretender in 1:53. Pour Mea Double finished third and Hambletonian champ Cool Papa Bell was fourth despite making a break at the start.
Temporal Hanover, who was beaten by three-quarters of a length in finishing third in the Hambletonian final on Aug. 6 and by a head in his Hambo elimination a week earlier, took the field through fractions of :26.4, :56.3, and 1:24.4 to capture the Beal as the 4-5 favorite.
“He was used a little hard, but I figured I was going to try to steal as much as I could going to the half,” winning driver Brian Sears said. “He kicked home.
“This horse really deserves it. He’s been racing great all year. He’s won a couple big ones, and he deserves another.”
Temporal Hanover, trained by Marcus Melander, won the Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial Main Event on July 9 and has posted four wins, three seconds, and a third in eight starts this season. He was a multiple Grand Circuit winner last year.
“It worked out perfectly today,” Melander said. “It’s a little tough to go to the lead because there are some strong winds out there, so he did a good job.
“He’s a good horse, he’s an honest horse, and he’s been racing good all year. He was first over both the eliminations and final of the Hambletonian, so I thought he was going to have a good shot today.”
Temporal Hanover is owned by AMG Stable, Kenneth Kjellgren, Rick Wahlstedt, and Heights Stable. The colt, a son of Walner-Think Twice, was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms. For his career, he has won nine of 20 races and earned $766,291.
He paid $3.80 to win.
The Earl Beal Jr. Memorial honors the former president of the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association who helped bring casino gaming to the state’s racetracks.
In the $200,000 Beal Consolation I, Molotov Cocktail settled in fourth as World At War Deo and King Of The North battled head-to-head to the half, circled three-wide on the backstretch, picked up cover from El Toro Loco on the final turn, and marched to victory by three-quarters of a length over B A Superhero in 1:52.4. El Toro Loco was third.
Molotov Cocktail, the 8-5 favorite, was driven by Brian Sears for trainer Linda Toscano. The colt is owned by Richard Gutnick, Tom Pontone, and Gary Cocco. The son of Chapter Seven-Moonlight Cocktail was bred by Gutnick and T L P Stable. He has won seven of 15 lifetime races and earned $348,952.
— Brian Sears quotes courtesy Derick Giwner
Beach Glass holds off Bythemissal in Hempt Memorial
The importance of track geometry was never shown more clearly than in the $300,000 Max C. Hempt Memorial Pace for 3-year-old males on Saturday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, as Beach Glass and driver Yannick Gingras took full advantage of the rail to defeat hot horse and favorite Bythemissal in 1:50.
Beach Glass and Bythemissal, who started from post three, had their hooves all the way down on the accelerator early, with Beach Glass able to keep Bythemissal outside en route to a searing :25.2 quarter before the latter tucked second.
The hoof shifted from gas to brake in the second quarter, with Beach Glass able to back the half off to :55.1. Bythemissal (Chris Page) came back for more first-over down the backstretch, with the three-quarters reached in 1:22 (partially attributable to the backstretch tailwind/homestretch headwind).
It wasn’t just these two colts slugging it out late: Layton Hanover, at 80-1, menaced in the Pocono Pike, and Fourever Boy was narrowing in quickly. But it was Beach Glass, a colt by trainer Brent MacGrath’s beloved Somebeachsomewhere, who earned the half-length decision.
“He needed the week off,” MacGrath noted after the race, “and he trained really well this week.” He ended his interview with the understatement of the day: “Post position means a lot.”
Joviality S romps in $250,000 Delmonica Hanover Trot
Joviality S continued her lifelong devastating form in the $250,000 Delmonica Hanover Trot for sophomore fillies on Saturday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, going up uncovered on Jiggy Jog S, trotting past her approaching headstretch, then drawing off to win by 4-1/2 lengths in 1:51.3, a stakes record and equaling the track record co-held by Check Me Out (2012) and Designed To Be (2014).
Joviality S continued her lifelong devastating form in the $250,000 Delmonica Hanover Trot. Curtis Salonick photo.
Brian Sears, who in post-race comments remarked how easy the Chapter Seven filly is to drive, sat third while Pink Coco Chanel, second to Fashion Schooner in the Hambletonian Oaks, left strongly to take over the racetrack before the :26.3 quarter. She extended Jiggy Jog S before letting her go to the top at three-eighths, hitting the half in :55.1.
Sears came uncovered with the winner of $1,616,818 down the backstretch, trotted up to the leader by the 1:23 three-quarters and powered right past her on the turn (coming out of which Jiggy Jog S broke), and finished out strongly on her own ability.
Owned by Courant Inc., Joviality S combined with Temporal Hanover to give trainer Marcus Melander a sweep of the day’s top sophomore trots. She extended her extraordinary record to 9-7-1-1 in 2022 and 21-16-3-1 lifetime, with many late seasoned rich races to come, and then a decision about her future.
Sweet Kisses pulls off 10-1 upset in Lynch
Sweet Kisses continued her winning ways with a second consecutive Grand Circuit stakes upset, capturing Saturday’s $250,000 James M. Lynch Memorial for 3-year-old female pacers by 1-3/4 lengths over Sea Silk in 1:50 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Max Contract finished third.
Sweet Kisses, who won the Adioo Volo on July 30 at odds of 34-1, scored in the Lynch at 10-1 for driver Todd McCarthy and trainer Ron Burke. It was the filly’s fourth consecutive victory and fifth in her past six starts, with the setback coming by a head.
McCarthy and Sweet Kisses were fourth as 6-5 favorite Max Contract, who brought a four-race win streak to the Lynch, led the field to the opening quarter in :26.1 and half in :54.2. Sweet Kisses started to make a move on the backstretch and picked up cover from second-place Sea Silk, who came first over on Max Contract as they hit three-quarters in 1:21.4.
Coming off the final turn, Sweet Kisses moved to the center of the track and stormed past her rivals in the stretch to get her sixth win in 11 starts this season.
“I knew that I was going to be following a good one from the half,” McCarthy said. “When I turned her loose at the top of the stretch, she had a big heart about it and wanted to go forward. I was very pleased.”
McCarthy, who won last year’s Lynch with Grace Hill in a stakes-record 1:49, said the track conditions were favorable for horses to come from off the pace.
“If you use them a little bit too much early, they seem to struggle getting home a little bit, not to mention there is a little bit of a headwind in the stretch too,” McCarthy said. “It’s making for very fair racing.”
Saturday marked the first time McCarthy drove Sweet Kisses.
“You’re always grateful to pick up drives in these kinds of races, especially one of Ronnie’s because you know he’s going to have them spot-on,” McCarthy said. “I’m super appreciative for that. He told me a little bit about her, and he couldn’t have been more correct. She raced super. True to his word, she was terrific.”
Sweet Kisses is owned by Burke Racing Stable, J&T Silva-Purnel & Libby, Knox Services, and Phil Collura. She is a daughter of Sweet Lou-Kiss Me and was bred by Concord Stud Farm. For her career, she has won eight of 14 races and earned $243,077.
She paid $22.40 to win.
