Captain Vodka pressed to the front with a first-over move, then held on down the lane to prevail by a nose in the featured $21,233 conditioned trot on Tuesday, March 24, marking the second straight win by the narrowest margin for driver Tyler Buter in the feature at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
In the headliner trot on Tuesday, Buter left from the outside post eight with the Captain Corey-Agro Dolce sophomore gelding, got him a tuck in fourth, then sent him up uncovered down the back to get the lead on the far turn. Dusty Dungarees (Anthony Napolitano) had vacated the pocket to follow Captain Vodka, and the two battled the length of the stretch, with the wheels of Dusty Dungarees appearing to be slightly ahead at one point past mid-stretch. But Captain Vodka fought on and held the slimmest margin as he tripped the photo-finish beam, lowering his mark to 1:55.2. Menotti (Braxten Boyd) was third.
Captain Vodka stayed unbeaten in two seasonal starts for trainer Robert Baggitt Jr., who also co-owns the winner with Christine Baggitt and J L Sadowsky LLC. The gelding is now three-for-12 lifetime. He paid $3.60 to win. Buter, who also took the Monday headliner by a nose with Zuma Beach, was the leading driver on the 14-race Tuesday card with three victories.
Captain Vodka is eligible for the Bobby Weiss Series, Pocono’s annual showcase for developing three-year-olds of all classifications, and with the series starting on Saturday, April 4, three other horses, all males, also stamped themselves as horses to watch. Two of this trio are in Captain Vodka’s trotting male division: Confident Volo, who lowered his mark to 1:55.2 in his seasonal debut, and Nose Jammer, who now has 10 career wins entering this non-winners-of-two-parimutuel-races series because he was a top fair horse last year, and here reduced his record to 1:57.1. Breaking his maiden was the pacing gelding Sounds So Sweet, who stopped the clock at 1:54.2.
Todd Buter sent out three winners from three starters on the program, tripling via wins by Waverly Hanover ($5.40) and Confident Volo ($4), both of whom were driven by Tyler Buter, and Kourageous Key ($25), piloted by Simon Allard. The conditioner is now five-for-32 on the season.
Racing resumes at Pocono Downs on Saturday, with a 1 p.m. card offering 14 races.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)