With five of the nine entrants in Monday's (June 7) $11,200 trotting feature coming off of victories, it seemed likely that someone would emerge from the headliner at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono with a winning streak. But none of the winners last time got home first; instead, it was the My MVP mare Thisisshe, who overcame a "sloppy" track and tough opponents to win in 1:55.
The meet’s leading driver, George Napolitano Jr., made two early moves to control the pace with Thisisshe and, despite foes coming from many directions in the lane, the mare was able to keep clear in progress to the wire.
Thisisshe, despite not winning in her last four starts, gave a good effort in all of those races and was sent the 8-5 favourite, and she rewarded the public’s faith while posting her seventh win of the campaign and raising her seasonal earnings over $50,000. Hunter Oakes is the trainer and owner of the hard-hitting winner, whom he claimed on May 10 and with whom he has already amassed purses of $13,824 in less than a month.
The condition sheet and the entries “dropped in the box” have created an unusual situation for the week-ending card at Pocono Wednesday (June 8) at 12:30 p.m. (EDT). Only three classifications were used for the 14-race card – “NW 2 races,” “NW 4 races,” and “NW 8 races” – but the entrants sorted to form eight divisions of “NW2”, four divisions of “NW4,” and two divisions of “NW8.” The two “NW 8 races” featured events, for $15,300, bring together pacers in Race 10 and trotters in Race 12. Program pages are available at the PHHA website.
(PHHA / Pocono)