Homicide Hunter went to the lead past the quarter, then trotted successive :27.3 panels home to hold off first-over Crazshana by a half-length in the $25,000 Winners Over Handicap Trot on Sunday night (July 24) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with the final clocking of 1:51.1 missing the divisional world record for four-year-old trotting geldings by a single tick.
And with Pocono being Pocono in the five-eighth mile track category, especially on the trot, Homicide Hunter didn’t even get a track record out of the brave effort. The 1:51 standard was achieved by Wind Of The North here in 2014, and then JL Cruze in a mountain stop last season. The altered son of Mr Cantab, owned by Crawford Farms Racing, did lower his mark from the 1:51.4 he posted in winning the Meadows Maturity on June 18, and raised his bankroll to $622,013.
The teaming of driver Eric Goodell and trainer Chris Oakes was a very fruitful one for both parties this weekend, as Homicide Hunter’s win at Pocono added to the three times the two paired successfully on Wiggle It Jiggleit’s Gerrity night at Saratoga 24 hours earlier. Even more remarkably, Goodell had a horse he was driving fall down while in contention at The Meadows on Monday, didn’t get back into the sulky until Friday, and after this race had posted a 14-6-2-0-.508 tally since coming back!
An altered son of Crazed also accounted for the $18,000 sub-featured trot, as Crazy About Pat led at every pole under the guidance of Andrew McCarthy in recording a new mark of 1:53.1. Paul Kelley conditions the six-year-old earner of $663,899 lifetime for the Patricia Stable.
(PHHA/Pocono)