It’s the time of year when fantasy meets reality. The days of hard training and wishful thinking by owners and trainers alike have passed the early phases of fast miles and faster qualifiers. With 2-year-olds on the track now competing for actual stakes dollars, what gets revealed quickly dashes many hopes but at the same time encourages those that believed. Freshman trotters assembled on Monday (July 8) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Although Sire Stakes competition has begun in earnest in other states, only Pennsylvania sticks out to me with its incredible depth of stallions as the lead source for trotting. That the Pennsylvania All Stars attracted a large number of entrants is no surprise. What came from those contests showed not just how advanced some of the colts and geldings truly are, but also gave a glimpse of what looks ahead to this year’s key stakes as well as the 2020 Hambletonian. We can all dream. While I went into the night hoping to find out if Father Patrick would flash some of the early season brilliance in his second year at stud that he exhibited from a sparse crop in his initial offering in New Jersey, I also wondered if some gifted trotting mares from the past would have an influence on the breed. By night’s end there were two standouts, each with a storyline worth taking an interest in. Trainer Julie Miller sent out Big Oil, a homebred and second foal from Cee Bee Yes, she a daughter of Muscles Yankee with a bank account in excess of $500K. Big Oil looked the part on the racetrack as a son of Father Patrick and he showed speed and manners, leaving alertly from post seven yet sitting in comfortably when driver Andy Miller asked him to. Off of rated fractions, Big Oil made a second move and his determination was enough to wear down a solid field and score in 1:55 2/5. “He’s a nice colt and he’s done everything we’ve asked of him,” said Julie Miller of Big Oil. “He’s eligible to the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes next at The Meadows but we may not send him out there and instead look for a leg of the Kindergarten.” Miller revealed that Big Oil is not eligible to the Peter Haughton Memorial at The Meadowlands but is well-staked the rest of the campaign, including the Breeders Crown. Big Oil’s dam Cee Bee Yes took a 1:50 2/5 mark as a 3-year-old in 2014 against one of the better crops of fillies of the last decade. Included in that group was Shake It Cerry, the winner of the 2014 Breeders Crown, a race Cee Bee Yes finished second in. Also in that group was Designed To Be, a filly Miller trained that finished second behind Lifetime Pursuit in the Hambletonian Oaks. Designed To Be, like Cee Bee Yes, has moved on to become a broodmare and her first foal happens to be Greenshoe, the current Hambletonian favorite and also a son of Father Patrick. Miller recalled another filly in that excellent crop, one that flashed incredible speed as a 2-year-old but was never able to put it all together at 3. “Cooler Schooner was in that group as well,” said Miller, remembering well how Cee Bee Yes would take her 1:50 2/5 mark at Lexington’s Red Mile in 2014. The hard work was accomplished by the flighty yet fleet Cooler Schooner in that late September stakes race. Driver David Miller was a passenger as Cooler Schooner carved out fractions of 27 4/5, 53 2/5 and 1:21 4/5 and then made a break ceding the lead to Cee Bee Yes in a race she defeated Lifetime Pursuit. In another $30,000 Pennsylvania All Stars event that Monday, the first foal from Cooler Schooner made his stakes debut for trainer Jim Campbell and this time driver David Miller had only minor issues on his way to a 1:55 2/5 career best clocking. By Muscle Hill, Real Cool Sam is a gelding bred and owned by Jules Siegel’s Fashion Farms. Real Cool Sam overcame post eight in his stakes debut but not before some anxious moments on the final turn where he looked to be leaving the track as opposed to finishing out his mile. “I was surprised by that,” Jim Campbell said. “He got around Harrah’s and The Meadowlands without incident.” Prior to the race Miller had come back to the paddock as it appeared Real Cool Sam wasn’t being very cool. “We put a little sharper head pole on him than he was wearing,” said Campbell. Jim Campbell trained Cooler Schooner as well and he seemed happy to report that the behavior of Real Cool Sam is now a whole lot better than his dams. “He was a little bit of a handful,” said Campbell of Real Cool Sam. “With his pedigree we really didn’t want to castrate him. But we got to the point where we thought he might hurt somebody.” That decision may have proven difficult but Real Cool Sam, unlike his mother, appears to have what’s necessary to perform at the highest level. “She (Cooler Schooner) was a horse you couldn’t get to sit in a hole. We tried everything to keep her calm but little worked,” said Campbell. “He’s got her speed but is easier to handle.” While generational revenge may be in order, the paths of Big Oil and Real Cool Sam are not likely to cross this winter, at least according to their current schedules. Campbell suggested that he would send Real Cool Sam to The Meadows for the July 16 leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes. “If all goes well he’s eligible to the Peter Haughton and we’ll go there,” said Campbell. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Real Cool Sam overcame post nine to win at The Meadows on July 16 in 1:55 2/5.] It’s July and a lot can happen between now and October, but first impressions are very important and both Big Oil and Real Cool Sam overcame outside posts, moved to challenge without cover and drove on to victory while well within themselves. The final times were fast enough for now.