The leading driver and trainer at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, Tyler Buter and Ron Burke added to their totals to stay atop the standings during the card of harness racing in Tuesday, July 1.

Buter and Burke joined up for a pair of victories on the afternoon card, including a win with Jeffery P in the $20,548 claiming handicap for trotters with hefty price tags.

Buter made command early with the winning Full Count gelding, then yielded to Shinkansen (Simon Allard) as that lover of the lead put up fractions of :27, :56.3, and 1:24.3. The outer tiers were clogged up, so the race basically came down to the pacesetter and the pocket-sitter, with slight favourite Jeffery P going by by a neck in the final strides of a 1:54 mile. A winner of three of his last four with career totals of 52 wins and $579,978, Jeffery P is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC along with Phil Collura.

In the $18,493 claiming handicap trot for horses priced just below the feature field, 17-1 longshot Inn At Rodanthe swung four-wide at headstretch and closed furiously to win by a half length in 1:56. Matt Kakaley was behind the Cantab Hall gelding as he was victorious for trainer Brandon Presto and owner Ameer Major.

Braxten Boyd and George Napolitano Jr. dead-heated for the top driving spot on the day with three victories apiece. Their triples had a contribution made by a dead-heat for win in the 13th race, when favoured Transparency (Napolitano) and second choice Justasec N (Boyd) could not be separated by the camera at the end of a 1:50.1 mile.

Over this Fourth of July weekend, Pocono will be racing on Saturday at 1 p.m. (with a carryover into the race five Pick 5 pool), Sunday at 6 p.m., and then on Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m.; the last two-named cards will contain action for Pennsylvania All-Stars two-year-olds. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at phha.org.

(PHHA / Pocono)