Ferretti ($9.40) sat a perfect two-hole trip then moved outside mid-far turn and out-trotted heavy favourite Southwind Coors to post the fastest mile of 2025 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, 1:51.3, in the $34,247 Winners Over Trot on Sunday, June 22.

Matt Kakaley, three-time defending Pocono driving champion, sent Ferretti right to the lead then forced Southwind Coors (Tyler Buter), starting from his assigned outside post six, to press on well past the :27.2 quarter before earning the lead. The rest of the field was strung out in middle splits of :56 and 1:24.1, but Kakaley knew his horse was full of go and attacked midway around the far turn. The final margin was a half-length, but Ferretti, the 7-2 second choice, was handled confidently late as he powered past Southwind Coors for the victory. Dire Straits (Braxten Boyd) completed the ticket. 

Ferretti won for trainer Travis Alexander and the partnership of David Rovine Stable (whose Hazeville equalled the year’s 1:47.4 pacing standard here Saturday) and CTC Stable. The six-year-old Creatine-Ferrari Of gelding has recorded 16 wins in 72 career starts and has $325,992 in the bank. He is four-for-13 this season.

In the $21,918 handicap pace for $41,096 claimers, the Captaintreacherous-History Repeats gelding Hammering Hank ($42.80) was kept off a cutthroat battle for supremacy until the stretch then tipped wide and sailed by everybody in front of him to come within a tick of his lifetime mark with a 1:51.2 victory by 2-3/4 lengths. Matt Kakaley timed his winning move well with the 20-1 shot for trainer Joe Bongiorno and owners JB Racing and Stephen Klunowski. With his first winner's circle visit of the season in 18 starts, Hammering Hank ended a 19-race winless streak. Spring Blake (Buter) held off Belmont Major N (Anthony Napolitano) for place.

Invictus ($3.60) was one of the few bright spots on the evening for chalk players when he won a $21,233 conditioned pace while lowering his mark by three seconds to 1:50. The victorious Huntsville-Dark Force sophomore gelding was extended to turn away a very game first-over Im The One (Pelling) by a half-length while winning for the meet’s top driver, Tyler Buter, trainer Hunter Oakes, and owner Jeffrey Nanna. Captain Luffy (Kakaley) finished third. Invictus, who won his seasonal bow in the Excelsior Series, is now two-for-four this year.

It’s not often that a horse pays $50 or more to win twice in 20 days, but after returning exactly that price on June 2, The Boss Said returned on Sunday and overcame post eight to return $84.80 to his scattered backers. It's also rare to see Matt Kakaley (who would later bring in a $42.80 winner as noted above) have a $50+ “bomber” in consecutive days, but he drove The Boss Said after winning a Stallion Series race with Ballast ($62.60) on Saturday. And the horse’s trainer, Darren Taneyhill, is certainly one of the few conditioners with a win rate hovering at 20 per cent who lead a meet in longshot wins, with three to his credit already.

Later, everybody who saw what driver Braxten Boyd can do with a longshot last Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park got another taste of his skills, as he won with $67.60 horse Padre to tie Anthony Napolitano and Ridge Warren with four $50+ victories at the meet. At Pocono on Tuesday, Boyd brought in Rwehomeyet, who at $180.40 is by far the biggest-priced horse of 2025 at Pocono.

Amateur drivers Paul Minore and Tony Ciuffetelli were victorious – one at short odds, one at high odds – in the pair of $13,699 trotting races for the American Harness Drivers Club. Minore, driving Hunters Gal, rallied from second-over to deliver as the 3-1 second choice in 1:57.1 while Ciuffetelli found the winner’s circle by way of disqualification with 18-1 shot Town Victor in a 1:56 mile. 

Live cards will begin at 1 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday at Pocono Downs. On Monday (after Sunday’s longshot-laden card), there will be a carryover into both the first-race Pick 4 pool and the fifth-race Pick 5 wager.

(With files from PHHA/Pocono & American Harness Drivers Club)