Voukefalas was used very hard early to cause wild fractions in the $29,167 featured conditioned pace on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, but his opposition had even rougher journeys, and he had the most late to take a 1:49.4 victory.

Voukefalas, starting from post three, got to the early lead and then refused to give any quarter to Congressional (Kevin Wallis) between horses or the three-wide charge of co-favoured Maximus Miki (George Napolitano Jr.). The quarter was a torrid :25.3, and as Maximus Miki continued on to challenge, Congressional took a swervy step or two, bothered Boom N (Brett Beckwith) a bit, and was looped. Maximus Miki pressed on to the lead in front of the stands, with Voukefalas keeping the pocket tight and leaving no hole for Congressional through a :53.1 half.

The front-end war continued through the 1:21.1 three-quarters, then Congressional started to back off a little. His fading gave Voukefalas and driver Braxten Boyd room to move outside near headstretch, and the winner went by midway down the lane to post a 1-3/4-length victory. Boom N, who stayed close to the battlers despite the early misfortune, came up the Pocono Pike and was able to nab Maximus Miki for the deuce. 

For Voukefalas, a six-year-old son of Lazarus N-Inittowinafortune who has been in top-tier competition a long time, the win was the 14th in his career in 64 starts and brought his earnings up to $1,206,327 for trainer Michael Russo and owner Michael Pagonas. He paid $5 to win.

In the $25,694 sub-featured conditioned pace, the So Surreal-Sugarcoated gelding Splash Brother ($7) posted his third straight wire-to-wire victory, handling another class rise in 1:50 to complete a fast-class event “sweep” for Braxten Boyd. Ray Schnittker trains the winner of $989,829 and co-owns him with Nolamura Racing LLC, Steven Arnold and Tammy Flannery.

There was a pair of $24,306 conditioned contests for developing horses, one on each gait. The four-year-old Walner-Dark As A Pocket gelding Night Phantom ($3) carried his speed to the wire in the trotting event, holding on by a neck over potential pocket rocket Onemore Volo (George Napolitano Jr.) in 1:54. Anthony Napolitano guided the winner for trainer Lily Cimino and owner Jaypaul Hoover.

On the pace, the five-year-old Huntsville-Mydelight Bluechip gelding Imgoingtojackson ($38.60) showed no signs of having been on the sidelines since February, making the lead past the quarter, dealing with the persistent bid of place horse Papis Pistol (George Napolitano Jr.), and still having enough to draw clear in the last quarter while stopping the timer in 1:51.4. The Deborah Daguet trainee, owned by Ellen McNeil, was driven by Ridge Warren to the 18-1 upset.

That was not the biggest price of the day, however; that distinction goes to Gold Glove Hanover at $91.60, who was one of four winners for Braxten Boyd. A driving double on the 12-race card came from Brett Beckwith.

Purses of $1.4 million USD will be on the line when racing returns to Pocono on Monday at 1 p.m., headed by four $300,000 USD Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships for two-year-olds. The “marquee event” will be the widely anticipated showdown between the two five-for-five pacing colts – Shalom Hanover (post one) and Starstruck Dreamer (post eight).

(PHHA/Pocono)