Three $23,972 divisions of the final preliminary round of the Bobby Weiss Series for three-year-old male pacers went to post on Saturday, April 18 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, setting the stage for a wide-open $50,000 USD final next week.

Ooglesaurus had won his two Weiss starts, but he did not enter the series this week. The other prelim doubler, Twin B Thriller (George Napolitano Jr.), can’t be downgraded after finishing fourth on Saturday, either, as he set fractions of :27.2, :57.4, and 1:25.1, but as showdown time neared, he suffered broken equipment and eventually went off stride. The winner of that Weiss section, the Perfect Sting-Captiva gelding Stingman ($14.80), righted his own ship after a hard-luck fourth and a second locally following four straight wins at The Meadows to start his campaign. Dave Palone, the winningest driver in harness history, raced Stingman in the two-hole, and when his chief nemesis broke stride, the sophomore mustered :54.2 - :27 back fractions to defeat first-up Hunthehuntr De Vie (Mark Herschberger) by a half-length in 1:52.2 for trainer Tee Wine. Sounds So Sweet (Bradley Chisholm) was third. Wine took oversight of the winner this week for owners Jack Piatt III, Scott Croftcheck, Joseph Seman, and Gregory Usner.

No winner Saturday could raise his Weiss win total to two – except for Pocono’s top driver Tyler Buter on the day, as he captured the other pair of prelims. Justinian ($7.60) made a second-quarter move to the top in a division with splits of :27, :56.2, and 1:23.2, then drew off by 3-1/4 lengths in a lifetime-best 1:51.3 after two place finishes in the series. Vizcaya (Anibal Borjas) was second, followed by Good Friday (Troy Beyer). The successful altered son of Papi Rob Hanover-Air Miles Hanover is trained by Nick Devita for Pit Bull Stable LLC, John Cummins, Christopher Giaccio and Mitchell Cohen.

Buter also paraded back the Huntsville-Twin B Peaches gelding Twin B Manhunt ($9.80), who stayed inside through splits of :27.4, :57.1 and 1:24.3 and continued up the Pocono Pike to break his maiden in 1:53. At the line, he was a neck ahead of Barrow (Bradley Chisholm), who was placed third behind Southwind Galvestn (Anthony Napolitano). Coming off a fifth and a second in the Weiss, Twin B Manhunt got himself a much-needed victory for trainer Nifty Norman and owner Dune Road Stables LLC ahead of next week’s final.

The Weiss championship race for the glamour division, set for next Saturday, will be drawn on Monday morning.

In the overnight feature, the $37,671 Winners Over Handicap Pace, the five-year-old Sweet Lou-Pretty Katherine gelding Lou Hill ($4) overcame the outermost starting slot to lead a training triple for Per Engblom. He got to the lead past a :27 quarter for driver Colin Kelly and continued on through middle splits of :55.4 and 1:22.4. There was no shortage of stretch challengers to the pacesetter, with an angling Copperfield (Braxten Boyd) coming fastest of all but missing the top spot by a head in the 1:50.2 mile. Jumpingjackmac N (George Napolitano Jr.) was third. Lou Hill is now 5-3-2-0 in Pocono’s top class this year for owner Tom Hill.

Engblom also won early on the card with Green Pastures ($7), and Farah Trio It ($4.40) completed the triple. She won her eighth race of the campaign in 11 starts to make her the winningest trotting mare in North America in 2026, with Matt Kakaley quickly getting her back on stride from an early bad step in the 1:53.2 win. Engblom is 123-for-500 on the year overall and leads the Pocono standings with 24 wins.

Tyler Buter had a natural grand slam in races three through six, including the two Weiss heats, to lead the sulkysitters on the 14-race card and raise his meet lead. One of his wins, taken with Art Of Revenge in a high-level claiming pace, was the fastest mile of the day of 1:49.4. Matt Kakaley had three visits to victory lane, while doubles went to George Napolitano Jr. and Dave Palone. Ron Burke had a training duo.

On Monday, these Weiss pacers’ trotting counterparts will contest their final preliminary round, with Confident Volo seeking to be the only male to sweep his Weiss prelims. First post is set for 1 p.m.

(With files from PHHA/Pocono; photo of Stingman winning on April 18)