P L Leeroy, the only double winner in the first two preliminaries in his sector of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, couldn’t complete a sweep of his prelims on Sunday afternoon (March 19) in one of 10 $12,500 divisions for horses priced at $20,000. Instead, he was joined by his conqueror Mister Daytona N and four other horses as two-time victors as their group’s preliminaries ended a week before their $25,000 championship.
P L Leeroy set the pace on the frigid day at Pocono, but Mister Daytona N sat right on his back, then caught him up the inside in 1:55.2 as the entire field of seven was separated by a mere two lengths on the money. Both of the first two horses had been claimed out of their first two legs -- P L Leeroy did get that "consecutive triple" as he was one of five horses on the day claimed for the $20,000 third-leg tag while Mister Daytona N got to stay with owner-trainer Christen Pantaleano and driver Jim Pantaleano.
Only two of the 10 winners were haltered Sunday, and both had previous series wins, but one of them was not even guaranteed a spot in the championship by his second win in an unofficial post-competition tally. That would be Busboy Hanover (1:55.4, driver George Napolitano Jr.), who skipped a leg and thus was beaten in the point totals by horses with a first, a second and another cheque-getting prelim effort, but still could get in if someone ahead of him did not declare. The same would apply to Sunday winners Mariner Seelster (1:54.1, Matt Kakaley) and Vasari N (1:54.3, Jim Pantaleano), who also skipped a leg.
The other horse earning his second Game of Claims win and being claimed was Make Some Waves (1:54.2, Simon Allard). Other Sunday winners were Perkins (1:54.3, Jim Pantaleano’s third Series win of the day), Classified Material (1:54, Tyler Buter), Intrigued Again (1:56, George Napolitano Jr.), Kept Under Wraps (1:56.1, Braxten Boyd) and Droptherakefreddy (1:53.4 for the fastest series win, Simon Allard). Simon Allard finished as the day’s top driver with five victories.
The March preliminaries in the Game Of Claims Series come to an end on the Monday 1 p.m. (EDT) card with five $7,500 divisions of horses entered for an $11,000 tag. With no horse winning twice in the preliminaries, this action will be wide-open ahead of next Monday’s $15,000 championship for this group.
(PHHA / Pocono)