Up-and-coming horses were the featured attractions on a hot Monday afternoon, June 23 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, with a pair of $21,233 races for pacers complemented by two $20,548 contests for trotters.

The Bettors Delight-Three Times A Lady sophomore filly Three Times Bettor is undefeated in three 2025 starts and in four straight outings overall after looking most impressive in a 1:51.3 victory. Jack Pelling put the filly on the lead, got a breather to the half then powered home with back half fractions of :54.3 and :27.1 to win easily for trainer-father Brett Pelling and owner Thaddeus Wier of East Aurora, New York.

Team Pelling and Falkirk were heavy favourites to complete a sweep of the featured paces, but after Falkirk was involved in very fast fractions, he gave way in the lane (taking $13,686 of win-place-show money with him) as the Sweet Lou-Parlee Beach gelding Sweet Parlay made the most of a second-over trip, winning in a lifetime best of 1:51.2. Braxten Boyd had the winner rolling late for trainer Richard Dunn, co-owner with MBC Stables.

In the quicker of the two trots, the three-year-old Tactical Landing-Pure Barre gelding Top Floor Tactics received an alert steer from Colin Kelly while lowering his mark to 1:55.2. Kelly backed "Tactics" out of the pocket on the far turn as Assiduous cleared the leader with a first-over move, then caught the new leader by a length while coming home in :28.1 for trainer Ashley Bako and New York-based owners Rosemary Sienicki, Patricia Taddeo and Eric Taddeo.

Barn Credit, a son of Credit Winner who had been rimmed the mile at Yonkers Raceway in his last start, made the most of a kinder opportunity and took a new mark of 1:55.4. Braxten Boyd got Barn Credit in third early, then could wait until late in the backstretch to make another advancing move, and this second burst proved to be successful, with closer Lionheart Hanover a neck back at the line. Mark Ford is the trainer and owner of Bank Credit.

A field of seven two-year-old trotting males races for a purse of $19,178 as they made their pari-mutuel debuts. The race was won by the Greenshoe-Settheworldonfire gelding Storm Hanover, who sat in the pocket behind favoured pacesetter Money Mayfield most of the mile, then stormed outside late on the far turn and caught the leader by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:57.4. Driver Todd Schadel also trains the rookie, and he owns him with Jim Simpson of Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Simon Allard drove the winner in four of the day’s first five races to earn top driving honours on Monday. 

Pocono has cancelled its scheduled Tuesday 1 p.m. card because of the likelihood of excessive heat and the track has also moved its Wednesday morning qualifiers to 9 a.m. The next racing at the northeast Pennsylvania oval will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

(With files from PHHA/Pocono; photo of Three Times Bettor winning on June 23)