After being fed a steady diet of overnight races through the first three months of live racing this winter, Rosecroft Raceway owners and spectators got their first glimpse of stakes
South Beach Star was parked most of a :53.3 first half en route to winning in 1:48.2 at Pocono last week. On Friday at Harrah’s Philadelphia, the Somebeachsomewhere gelding saved the :53.3 half for the back of the mile, holding off favoured Lous Pearlman by half a length in 1:49.1 to take the $20,000 Open Handicap Pace.
Mankat was out most of the quarter in one of the three $15,300 feature races during a sweltering Tuesday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but from there the four-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere was never threatened while lowering his mark to 1:50.4 in the division for male pacers.
Mankat, starting from post three, was kept outside most of the :26.3 opener by Horse to his immediate inside, but after using his horse to control the throttle, driver Jim Pantaleano was able to back off the half to a moderate :55.4. Mankat had to speed up again as favoured Tell Them Lou made a steady charge up to and past the 1:22.4 three-quarters, but though the chalk did well he had to settle for second, a length behind the Christen Pantaleano trainee, now a winner of two of his last three (and with two more races of eligibility in this class) for owner Matthew Morrison.