The Captaintreacherous gelding Rogerthat Bluechip made an early move to control the pace, rested to the half, then sped home in :55.2 to win the $12,000 pacing feature for males in a lifetime best 1:52.3 during the Sunday (March 21) card at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Jason Bartlett drove the winner, who has now taken two straight since coming to Pocono for trainer Andrew Harris and the ownership of Martin Budkey and Michael Goldberg Racing LLC, and may be headed for better things.
In the co-feature for distaffs, the Quality Western mare Peggy J spent a long time in the two-wide path to get to the lead in front of the stands, but once there she could not be dislodged and won in 1:54.3. Simon Allard handled the sulky duties for trainer Jeff Sorenson and owner Paula Sarcone.
The fastest mile on the card was the 1:51.1 turned in the nightcap by the So Surreal mare Surreal Feeling, lowering her mark by two-fifths of a second after setting virtually all of the pace and finishing in :27.2. Trainer Dale Lawton co-owns the impressive mare with Chris Lawton, and Jason Bartlett guided her to the quick clocking. In all, eight horses set lifetime marks during the program, with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees.
Matt Kakaley led all drivers with three sulky successes Sunday, including the night’s fastest trotter Great Unknown, who reduced his mark to 1:54.2.
The Monday afternoon (March 22) card at Pocono will feature the third and final preliminary of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series action for $15,000 base-price horses. Three $15,000 divisions will decide who will qualify for the $30,000 Championship on March 29–and out of whose barn the finalists will be racing, what with 24 claims in the first two prelims. Monday’s first post is 12:30 p.m. (EDT); program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.
(PHHA/Pocono)