Big Ben Pellini S was large and in charge of the faster of two $20,833 trotting features on Monday, Nov. 4 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, winning in hand in 1:53.2 on a cool day.
Ridge Warren sent the Ready Cash sophomore gelding to the lead towards the middle of the first turn, going to the quarter in :27.2 then rating the half to :57. 'Ben' took off again down the backstretch, reaching the three-quarters in 1:25 and then coasting home to finish two lengths ahead of Going Green. Big Ben Pellini S raised his lifetime victory ratio to half in 10 starts for trainer Åke Svanstedt and Order By Stable AB.
In the other feature trot, the Greenshoe three-year-old gelding Loranga was also able to open up a sizable advantage, but that margin shrank quickly in the lane, and Loranga had to dig down to withstand closer Gillys De Vie by a nose in 1:56, equalling his lifetime mark. Matt Kakaley drove the Jenny Melander trainee for Friendship Stables.
On a day when 11 of 14 favourites won, the extreme outlier was Alcohol You Later, who rode a pocket trip behind heavy chalk Papis Opinion then passed then one late to take a new mark while returning $69.60; the other 13 winners combined returned $57.60.
Tyler Buter led the horsepeople’s colony with three driving wins. Doubles were recorded by trainers Jill Roland and Åke Svanstedt, and by drivers Matt Kakaley, Anthony Napolitano, George Napolitano Jr., and Jim Pantaleano.
The racing week closes at Pocono on Tuesday with a 1 p.m. card, featuring a trio of $15,000 USD contests, two of them handicap trots and the other for pacing distaffs. There will also be a carryover into the last race High 5 wager.
(PHHA / Pocono Downs)