Trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt had a heavy betting favourite in each of the two $20,833 trotting features on the Tuesday, Nov. 12 afternoon card at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania. One was coming off a victory against “non-winners of two races” company, while the other won his Breeders Crown elimination two starts back.
Want to guess which one of the two won and which one came up just shy? It may not be as easy as it seems.
The Father Patrick sophomore gelding Ordained, wearing elaborate rigging around the eye area in his second start for meet-leading trainer Ron Burke, left hard and put Crown elim winner Daiquiri Hanover in behind early, then set very fast fractions (for a day in the mid-40s) of :28.1, :57.2 and 1:25.4. Svanstedt wheeled 'Daiquiri' outside headstretch to challenge and his colt made up ground, but Ordained had a :27.4 kicker in him under Tyler Buter’s handling to withstand the heavy chalk by a neck in the impressive 1:53.3 mile. Ordained, acquired two weeks ago, looks like a fine addition for Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi, Beasty and Frank Baldachino.
Ordained and Daiquiri Hanover finished 14 lengths ahead of the third-place horse – a margin that was actually less than the winning advantage enjoyed by the other Svanstedtite, the filly Prominence, who like her stablemate is by Father Patrick. Prominence went on to the front at the quarter and opened daylight at will in the final stages, enjoying a 16-1/4-length lead at the end of her 1:55 mile, lowering her mark for Pinske Stables, Melvin Hartman and Little E.
A $20,833 contest was also carded for pacing distaffs and it was taken by the American Ideal three-year-old pacing filly Empty Nest in 1:54.4 for driver Anthony Napolitano, trainer Joe Pavia Jr., and Thomson Sisters Racing Stable. Empty Nest was able to back out behind cover down the back, then tipped wide and closed strongest of all to take the decision.
If it wasn’t a feature race on Tuesday at Pocono, it was probably taken by Matt Kakaley, who visited Victory Lane six times in all on the afternoon. The defending two-time Pocono driving champion now has a nine-win cushion at the top with four days of racing left at the mountain oval in 2024.
The last full week of racing at Pocono for this campaign will be held on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m., and will be followed up by another 1 p.m. card on closing day, Saturday, Nov. 23.
(PHHA / Pocono)