Matt Kakaley added more four wins to his recent hot run at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, including taking Tuesday (Nov. 8) afternoon’s $15,000 feature trot with the Walner sophomore colt Street Smarts, who overcame the outside post seven to equal his lifetime mark of 1:54.4.
Street Smarts had plenty of gate speed to reach the top early, passing the quarter pole in :28 before yielding the lead to Bully Boy Hill, who had the wind at his back much of the way en route to a quick half of :56.2. Challenger Scottish was kept on the rim. These positions were unchanged to a 1:25.4 three-quarters, and with favoured Distance Learning having traffic problems midfield, the stretch battle came down to the pacesetter and pocketsitter, with Street Smarts proving best late by a half-length.
Street Smarts now has two wins and two seconds in his last four starts, and the late developer may be one to keep an eye on for Team Cancelliere, trainer Tom and owner/brother John.
This was the second successful hookup on the afternoon between Team Cancelliere and Kakaley, who now has 24 wins over the last six Pocono cards. Kakaley opened up a near-insurmountable lead over 10-time defending dash champion George Napolitano Jr., who is a clear second over the competition, with four cards left in 2022 at the mountain oval. The last person to take the crown besides George was a 23-year-old Matt Kakaley in 2011.
Pocono will return for its last full three-card week on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.; following that date will be Monday and Tuesday racing at the same post time, and then the final card of the season at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19. Program pages for all Pocono races will be available on the PHHA website.
(PHHA / Pocono)