Eurobond never appeared to lead in the stretch during in the $17,500 trotting feature Saturday afternoon (Nov. 5) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono until the most important step – the last one – when he nosed out P L Notsonice at the end of a 1:54 mile.
Blenheim used the pylons to force the one-two finishers in behind him going to a :27.1 quarter; he backed the half to :57 then picked up the pace to 1:24.2 at the three-quarters as Eurobond moved up to challenge and P L Notsonice stayed well-placed in the pocket. Blenheim was a bit clear of his challengers during the first half of the far turn, but then went offstride shortly after midturn, being taken wide out of harm’s way.
The two contenders found themselves with a clear path as they came out of the far bend, with the heavy favourite Eurobond working hard to get the advantage over P L Notsonice. There was virtually nothing between the two right through the wire, and it required the photo-finish camera to determine that Eurobond’s nose reached the finish line over the game P L Notsonice.
Eurobond is a seven-year-old son of Love You who has won exactly one-third of his 90 starts, and this 30th victory raised his earnings to $541,415. Travis Alexander conditions the classy trotter for Morrison Racing Stables.
Eurobond was driven by Matt Kakaley, who was winning for the fifth time of the day, and for the first time while not behind a trainee of conditioner Darren Taneyhill. George Napolitano Jr., the 10-time local driving champ, had tightened the sulky-sitters’ derby against Kakaley, who had led since the very start of the year, but in the last five Pocono cards Matt has won twenty times. And with six cards left in the the mountain oval's season, Kakaley now has a 13-win lead and is in a good position to be the first driver to top Napolitano since … a 23-year-old Matt Kakaley did in 2011.
Pocono will be back in action this coming Monday (Nov. 7) and Tuesday (Nov. 8) with 1:30 p.m. (EST) cards.
(PHHA / Pocono)