A pair of $15,000 trots headlined the Tuesday, Oct. 22 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, with both winners scoring in 1:55.2 just before heavy rains downgraded the track surface.
First to Victory Lane was the Donato Hanover mare Mystical Wynn, who parlayed a pocket trip into a neck decision over heavy-favourite and tempo-setter Grandma Heidi. Anthony Napolitano drove the Bob Baggitt Jr. trainee for the Kelly Walker Stable
Joining forces with trainer Frank Kamine and the ownership of A 1 Racing for the first time, the E L Titan sophomore filly Play It Again As took a lifetime mark in winning the other feature event. Despite being off for 23 days, Play It Again As set the pace from the quarter and had enough to withstand first-over Choco Charlie by a half length under the guidance of Simon Allard.
Top pace on the evening was a $14,000 event for distaffs, in which the Bettors Delight mare Medusa raised her lifetime earnings to $997,778 with a victory in 1:51.1 over a track which by this time had been listed as “sloppy”. George Napolitano Jr. put the favoured winner on the lead and stormed home in :55.1 despite the adverse conditions to defeat longshot KG Rocks by four lengths for trainer Randy Bendis, who also co-owns the veteran mare with Pollack Racing LLC.
George Napolitano Jr., who recently notched his 10,000th driving victory, won four of the last five races to give him sulky honors for Tuesday and has now recorded 4,993 wins at the mountain oval.
(PHHA/Pocono)