A week after setting a track record at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Fox Valley Iliad improved his time in winning the $25,000 featured trot at Pocono on Saturday night, setting a world record in the process

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Last Friday, Fox Valley Iliad, a Vaporize stallion hailing from the Kimberly Asher barn, set a Pocono track record for four-year-old stallions on the trot by winning his conditioning assignment in 1:52.3.

In Saturday night’s feature for winners of over $25,000 lifetime, the stallion left from the inside post in a field of six as the 6-5 favourite and allowed Lolique to grab the engine and set the quarter-mile mark of :27.1.

Like last week, driver Tom Jackson set Fox Valley Iliad in motion on the front stretch, sending him to the front at the three-eighths mile mark. He then clicked off sizzling middle panels of :55.3 at the half and 1:23.1 at three-quarters, gaining some separation from his foes.

Monsignor Flan made a belated closing move in the stretch, but came up a half-length short of Fox Valley Iliad. Lolique finished third. Fox Valley Iliad’s winning time was 1:52, which not only reset his Pocono track record for four-year-old stallions on the trot, but it also set a world record for the age group on a five-eighths mile oval.

Owned by Larry Stalbaum and Mike Sorentino, the stallion now has four wins in seven starts this year and 11 victories lifetime with career earnings of $135,103.

Fox Valley Iliad wasn’t the only one muscling his way into the Pocono record books on Saturday night. Transcending matched the track record for aged stallions on the pace with a 1:48.2 mile in a victory in the non-winners of $25,000 the last five starts condition. Using a pocket trip and the passing lane, Transcending, an eight-year-old stallion trained by Ron Burke and driven by Matt Kakaley, won by a nose in a three-way photo over American Rage and Real Flight. He matched the Pocono mark set by Vlos back in 2010.

(Pocono Downs)