Pocono: One Eight Hundred, Top Me Off try to continue Weiss perfection

A solid group of 3-year-olds will be in action this weekend at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono with the $40,000 finals for the Bobby Weiss Series for male pacers and male trotters featured on Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening, respectively. Driver Josert Fonseca couldn't be happier with the likely favorite for Saturday's Weiss final, the $800,000 yearling known as One Eight Hundred.

"I trained him this morning (Wednesday)," Fonseca said. "I was very happy with the way he finished."

For Fonseca, the job of handling the expensive yearling this year has been a treat. Cast off in some ways after just one victory in five starts as a juvenile, One Eight Hundred needed some time off to get his act together.

"He got a bit grabby at The Red Mile last year," said Fonseca, obviously referring to a performance in the Bluegrass that saw an out of control colt click off first-half fractions of 26 and 52 4/5 before coming to a near walk in the last eighth of a mile.

"We spent a lot of time over the winter racing him behind other horses, and he's calmed down a lot," said Fonseca.

In the Weiss opening leg, One Eight Hundred, a son of the late Somebeachsomewhere, powered off in a 1:50 2/5 clocking that still stands as the fastest of the series, as well as a lifetime mark for the colt.

"He's a big horse, and it really didn't feel as if we were going that fast," said Fonseca, who guided the colt to a second series score two weeks later (April 17) in a 1:52 time.

While it's still early in the season, Fonseca has quite high expectations for the colt he has sat behind regularly for trainer Nancy Takter.

"He's turned into a horse you can drive with two fingers now," said Fonseca.

One Eight Hundred landed post six in the nine-horse final and will undoubtedly be a short-priced favorite. Trainer Ray Schnittker qualified a pair for the final, with Stop Staring (post two) and He's A Snob (post five) having position edges over the favorite. Stop Staring was third behind One Eight Hundred in his last start. He's A Snob got in the win column for the first time this year last Saturday, scoring in 1:53 2/5 to break his maiden.

Trevor's Ace (post three) was no threat chasing One Eight Hundred last week but posted the second-fastest series mile when he scored in 1:51 for driver Jason Bartlett on April 10.

Sunday's feature finds Top Me Off looking for a sweep of the Weiss for sophomore trotting colts and geldings. The son of Bar Hopping has returned as a sophomore in razor-sharp condition for trainer Todd Schadel, who has driven the ridgling in all four of his victories this season. On Sunday, Andy Miller gets the assignment with Top Me Off, starting from the extreme outside post nine.

"Andy drove him in the Pennsylvania Fair final for me last year," said Schadel. "I think he's two or three seconds better than me."

Top Me Off has won on the front end as well as coming from out of the pocket.

"You can do whatever you want with him," said Schadel. "The night I raced him in the pocket [April 11] he was just waiting to go past that horse."

Top Me Off is a homebred of Rick and Regina Beinhauer, and Schadel has partnered with the pair on this horse, as well as about a half-dozen other 2-year-olds in his stable. Thus far, Top Me Off is the best of the lot.

"We've got him staked to everything in Pennsylvania," Schadel said, hoping to follow up a solid performance this Saturday night with the first leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on May 15 at The Meadows.

Schadel didn't know how good Top Me Off was until late last season.

"He was hitting his knees," said Schadel. "We got that worked out and in his last start [Simpson] at Harrah's [Philadelphia] he was a really good second behind Nifty's [Norman] horse, Jack Fire."

The October race last year was the 16th of the season but given that Top Me Off needed five starts on the Pennsylvania Fair circuit to be eligible to the final, the number was quite reasonable.

Top Me Off's 1:54 2/5 mile last week was a career-best and the fastest of any preliminary leg in the Weiss series.

"I think he can shave a second off of that," said Schadel with ultimate confidence in his catch-driver.

Despite his perfect record, Top Me Off was only made the 3-1 second choice on the morning line behind the Marcus Melander-trained Pilot Hanover. The colt by Southwind Frank was second in his first Weiss start and picked up a 1:55 3/5 win last Sunday. Mattias Melander will drive from post four.

Ceffyl Dwr (post one), Hoolie N Hector (post three), and Tricky Dick (post five) all have at least one Weiss leg victory to their credit.

The Weiss finals on both cards are scheduled as race 10. Saturday's action starts at 12:30 p.m., while Sunday's card kicks off at 5 p.m. The series also offers a pair of filly finals, with the pacers in the spotlight Monday and the trotters on Tuesday.