Trainer Per Engblom continued to be crackling hot on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania as his trainees swept the $37,671 Winners Over events, heading a triple for the conditioner.
First up was the six-year-old Chapter Seven-Columbia gelding Cecil Hanover ($5.60), who won the Winners Over Trot by four lengths in 1:54 while boosting his lifetime earnings to $757,884. Matt Kakaley sat in third with the winner most of the way through fractions of :28.1, :57.2, and 1:26.2, then moved the Engblom trainee outside just before the third station, and Cecil Hanover trotted his own last quarter in :27.2 to win for fun. The gelding, owned by FAC Racing LLC and Yannick and Jaiden Gingras, is now 16-for-48 lifetime. Dribbling Bi (Dan Dube) finished second over Resolve To Win (Brett Beckwith).
In the Winners Over Pace, the five-year-old Sweet Lou-Pretty Katherine gelding Lou Hill ($4.20), second to stablemate Pinny Tiger A in last week’s feature, improved on that finish with a 1:51.1 tally on Saturday. Simon Allard got Lou Hill to the top in :27.2 then caught a semi-breather with him to a :56.1 half. Lou Hill quickened to three-quarters in 1:24.1 and finished in :27 to withstand the inside rush of favoured Catalpa Rescue A (Colin Kelly) by a neck for owner Tom Hill. Bettors Donttell (George Napolitano Jr.) was third. The winner is now 14-for-41 lifetime with earnings of $485,625.
Engblom's feature winners completed a triple that began with Shoresy ($25.80), who surged down the lane in the third race to a 1:55 victory. The conditioner is 49-for-179 this year, a 27.4 per cent strike rate.
The second preliminary round of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series (GoC) again drew five divisions, with Saturday's $37,671 base-tagged horses competing for $21,918 in each group. The fastest split, clocked in 1:51.2, went to the Captaintreacherous-Social Scene gelding Simon Says Hanover ($12.40), who used the Pocono Pike as his route to the winner's circle for driver Colin Kelly and owner-trainer Ashley Bako. The series has now generated 10 different winners
The only Saturday GoC winner to be claimed was Supplemental Fee ($2.40), who was claimed last week and will change barns again now after a 1:52.1 score. Other winners were Greatest Ending (1:52.4, $7.80), Nineteenth Man A (1:53, $28.20), and D A Mcdreamy (1:53.2, $5.80). Eight horses were claimed from the second prelim, with the cash register ringing up sales of $301,370.
Brett Beckwith topped all drivers with three wins Saturday, with Tyler Buter and Ridge Warren each having two. Engblom was the only trainer with a multiple-win day.
Pocono is set to host racing next on Monday at 1 p.m., but the status of that card is subject to the whims of Mother Nature. The next Pocono card will have a carryover of $3,948.64 in the first race Pick 4, whenever it is held.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)