Driver George Napolitano Jr. and trainer Chris Oakes continued their successful partnering ways at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Monday night with three wins, giving them seven winners at the mountain oval the last three nights and the winner of the first race on five of the last seven cards at the northeast Pennsylvania track.
“G-Nap” in fact swept the first four races on the card, including both halves of the Double for Oakes, then later tallied for the third time with an Oakes-conditioned horse to give him a five-bagger for the second straight night and to run his Saturday-Sunday-Monday count at Pocono total to 13 –- and his total for the first seven days of November to 24, including ten at Philly last week and one here on November 1.
Napolitano had already amassed an insurmountable lead in the driving derby, but Oakes' recent hot hand has allowed him to go 10 training wins clear of Rene Allard, after those two had had a good battle for the top spot for several weeks before.
Ironically, the other pair of “hot hands” on Monday night at Pocono belonged to Rene Allard’s brother Simon, who also visited Victory Lane five times –- unfortunately, none of his winners were trained by his brother. The sulky quintet puts Simon Allard at 144 wins for the year at Pocono, one behind third-place Matt Kakaley, with George Napolitano Jr. and his brother Anthony safely in their 1-2 spots.
(with files from PHHA / Pocono)