{"id":347990,"date":"2025-08-16T01:48:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/347990\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T01:48:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:48:18","slug":"stacked-field-set-for-hempt-memorial-at-pocono-u-s-trotting-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/347990\/","title":{"rendered":"Stacked field set for Hempt Memorial at Pocono \u2013 U.S. Trotting News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hightstown, NJ<\/strong> \u2013 There will be plenty of firepower in Saturday\u2019s $300,000 Grade 2 Max C. Hempt Memorial at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, where five of the season\u2019s seven fastest 3-year-old male pacers in North America will meet in a field of eight.<\/p>\n

Prince Hal Hanover, coming off wins in the Grade 2 Carl Milstein Memorial and Grade 1 Adios in his past two starts, received the 5-2 morning-line nod. Captain Optimistic, who posted a career-best 1:48.1 triumph in the Grade 2 Cane Pace in his most recent start on Aug. 2, was made the 3-1 second choice followed by Twisted Destiny, who counts the Grade 2 MGM Grand Messenger Stakes in June among his victories, at 4-1.<\/p>\n

Twisted Destiny has the fastest mark among that group, at 1:48, which he set in winning his Adios elimination on July 19. He was third in the final, beaten by only a neck, and second in the Milstein. Prince Hal Hanover set his mark of 1:48.1 in the Adios final after finishing second to Twisted Destiny in the elim.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the quintet of speedsters are Papis Pistol, who won a 3-year-old Open in 1:48 in June at Woodbine Mohawk Park, and Dandy Ideal, who scored in 1:48.2 in a July 12 conditioned race at Pocono Downs.<\/p>\n

But the depth goes beyond those five, with the Ron Burke-trained duo of Swingtown and Rick Wink also among the Hempt field.<\/p>\n

\"\"Swingtown (inside) nipped Ron Burke-trained stablemate Rick Wink by a nose on Aug. 2 in the Ohio State Fair at Scioto. Conrad Photo.<\/p>\n

Swingtown won an Adios elimination and finished second, beaten by a head, in the final. He met up with Prince Hal Hanover and Twisted Destiny again in the Milstein, where he battled to the front in a :25.4 opening quarter before finishing third. For the year, he has hit the board in seven of nine starts, winning four and earning $274,530.<\/p>\n

Rick Wink made an early break in the Milstein and was no factor but finished a fast-closing fifth in the Adios final. He has four victories among six top-three finishes this year, with $169,000 in purses.<\/p>\n

Swingtown and Rick Wink finished 1-2, respectively, separated by a nose, in the $145,000 Ohio State Fair race for sophomore male pacers at Eldorado Scioto Downs the week prior to the Aug. 9 Milstein Memorial at MGM Northfield Park. Swingtown will leave from post two with driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. on Saturday and is 6-1 on the morning line. Rick Wink is 10-1 and will leave from post four with Yannick Gingras.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy with them,\u201d Burke said. \u201cWith Rick Wink, you can throw out last week. He shied away from a tree that hangs over the track, so I\u2019m not worried about that. Swingtown raced great. Going :25.4 at Northfield is legit. You\u2019re going a real mile. He drew inside (Saturday), and he can control the pace, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swingtown and Rick Wink are among a group of Burke\u2019s 3-year-old male pacers who have been overshadowed by stablemate Louprint, who was a Dan Patch Award winner last year and undefeated in five races this year, including the Grade 1 Pepsi North America Cup, before being sidelined by minor surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cLouprint is just another step up,\u201d Burke said. \u201cThese others are very good colts. But I think Louprint is special.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Max C. Hempt Memorial is part of Pocono\u2019s Sun Stakes Saturday card, along with the Grade 1 James M. Lynch Memorial for 3-year-old female pacers, the Grade 1 Delmonica Hanover for 3-year-old female trotters, and the Grade 2 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters. Racing begins at 2:30 p.m. (EDT) Saturday at Pocono Downs. <\/p>\n

For free program pages, visit the\u00a0Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen\u2019s Association website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hightstown, NJ \u2013 There will be plenty of firepower in Saturday\u2019s $300,000 Grade 2 Max C. Hempt Memorial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-347990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115035930954194992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}