Pennsylvania-sired three-year-old trotting fillies contested $219,143 worth of purses on Sunday night, June 15 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, with two divisions of Sire Stakes and three sections of Stallion Series action in the group’s second preliminary round.

The first (and fastest) Sire Stakes split, carrying a purse of $69,301 went to the Greenshoe-Asiago filly Ms Prada, who has now won two straight outings and here reduced her mark to 1:53.4. Yannick Gingras bypassed an early hole to get the lead, and was willing to pay a :26.4 price to get control. After soft middle numbers of :56.1 and 1:25, Ms Prada held off a late inside thrust by favoured Hangover (Åke Svanstedt), a first leg PASS winner who rode the rail all the way after 20 days off and still made a good race of it, beaten only 1-1/4 lengths. Shes A Shoe In (Mark MacDonald) finished third. 

Ms Prada was the second half of a giant stakes weekend for trainer Ron Burke, who conditions this four-time seasonal winner for Burke Racing Stable, Beasty, Joseph Di Scala Jr., and J&T Silva-Purnel & Libby. The winner returned $6.80.

Like her Svanstedt stablemate Hangover, Elaine T S was coming off a 20-day rest, but she was able to win off the time away and surprised the crowd with a $69.80 victory while lowering her mark to 1:54.1 in the $68,761 second division. Favoured invader Divine Thing (Todd McCarthy) made two moves to control the tempo of :26.3, :56, and 1:25.2, but when the Southwind Frank-High Heels filly Elaine T S came up first-over and challenged, the chalk lost gait, and Elaine T S was clear after that. Goodgirl Bi IT (Mattias Melander) avoided interference and came on for second from the pocket, 1-1/4 lengths off the winner and ahead of first round Sire Stakes winner Payback Moni (Brady Brown). 

Svanstedt drove and trains the winner for Brochart Stable Inc., Ecuries Diocles AB, and Åke Svanstedt Inc.

In the first of three $27,027 Stallion Series divisions, the Father Patrick-Pay For Soup filly Per Capita became the only two-time winner among this stakes group of fillies so far. She came out of the pocket to just catch another first round winner, Tally The Tab (Todd Schadel), by a nose while covering the mile in 1:57.1. Boom Chica Boom (Ridge Warren) completed the trifecta. Brown kept his filly steady late to work to the win for trainer Steve Schoeffel and owners Kathy Schoeffel, King Fam Stable and Mary Owlett.

The Greenshoe-Broadway Chuckles miss Dearly Beloved might ultimately prove the one to beat in these Stallion Series races as, with only two races since her 1:53.4 Weiss Series Consolation win on April 28, she dug deep late and won by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:54.3 for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Jenny Melander, and owner Donald Bartling. Dearly Beloved went to early command, yielded to race favourite Bay Breeze Hanover (Dexter Dunn) at the half and sat in the two-hole, then wheeled outside and finished strongly for the victory in the second split. Santa Cristina (Tyler Miller), a first round winner, photoed the chalk out for second.

The Cantab Hall-Won An Done filly Tabdone made a successful stakes debut for the red-hot Trond Smedshammer barn in 1:54.4, going right to the lead and backing off the pace, then sprinting home in :27.3, three lengths clear of place finisher Bizzy Brenda (Steve Smith). Pink Whiskey (Matt Kakaley) finished third. The winning filly, unraced at two, now has three wins and three seconds in six starts for driver-trainer Smedshammer and his principal owner Purple Haze Stables.

The big stakes card also featured a $33,784 fast-class conditioned trot, with Aetos Kronos S, despite starting from the outside post seven, trotting the fastest mile of the year at Pocono, 1:52.2, while winning handily. Resolve To Win (Napolitano) forced a foe to tuck by the :28 quarter; Southwind Coors (Gingras) took over shortly thereafter, with Aetos Kronos S and Dunn then proceeding forward to the lead into turn two, before the :56.3 half. The three-quarters came and went in 1:24.2, and no one could make a dent into the Maxie Lee Invitational winner’s lead in the last stanza, with Southwind Coors just lasing over Resolve To Win for the deuce. 

Aetos Kronos S, a son of Bold Eagle and now four-for-five stateside, is trained by Svanstedt for Jeffrey and Michael Snyder. He has now won $1,514,612 lifetime. His win price was $3.20.

Tony Beltrami won both $13,514 races for the American Harness Drivers Club on Sunday night with trotters All Rise in 1:57.1 and Just The Facts in 1:56.3. He owns the former, trained by Deborah Daguet, while the latter is owned by JML Racing and trained by Jamie Morgan.

Pocono will be presenting 1 p.m. cards on both Monday and Tuesday.

(With files from PHHA/Pocono & AHDC; photo of Ms Prada winning on June 15)