Matt Kakaley, three-time defending dash-winning driving champion at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, recorded his 7,000th visit to the winner's circle as a driver when he guided Franzo to Victory Lane in the second race at the northeast Pennsylvania oval on Tuesday, April 15.
Horses whom Matt Kakaley, 37, has driven have earned $122.1 million for their owners, putting him 22nd on the all-time list of money-winning drivers. Last year, horses he drove earned a personal yearly best of $13.5 million and he was sixth on the continent with 539 victories, just below his personal high of 2023, when he triumphed 561 times. This year, he is also 10th in North America in the driving earnings category. Kakaley has captured six driving crowns at Pocono during his career – four as the winningest driver and two UDR trophies.
In addition to Kakaley’s milestone 7,000th win, Pocono also featured eight $22,222 divisions of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series for horses in for a tag of $25,000 USD. Anthony Napolitano guided half of the octet of winners; three of the eight repeated after their first prelim victories; and five of them changed barns after their success on Monday.
Three of Napolitano's winners changed hands. Included in that number is Golden Compass, claimed out of a victorious first round race, and then again claimed after Napolitano won with him in 1:55 (by 10-3/4 lengths) for trainer Herbert Lux III. Napolitano's other winners who will be relocating are Wallet, taken from trainer Travis Alexander after the fastest Game Of Claims division in which he earned a new mark of 1:53.4, and Macmorris Hanover, overcoming the outside post eight in 1:54.4 for trainer Peter Pellegrino, who had two wins in Tuesday’s series and three overall, but losing this winner to a claim.
The fourth Game Of Claims win for Napolitano was by far the closest contest of the day, as he got the most after a pocket trip from Yo Lucky Moni to win by a nose over Run Run Elegant in 1:58.3 for trainer Maria Alvarez – and at $36.20, the only series horse to pay better than 5-1.
Another horse claimed last week and this, and winning both times, was Altus Hanover, also stopping the timer in 1:55 while driven by Napolitano's brother George for his one-week trainer, Peter Pellegrino. The third two-for-two horse in this Game Of Claims event is In My Dreams, driven by Braxten Boyd to victory in 1:55.2 and now a winner of three straight overall for trainer Lou Pena.
Boyd added a second series sulky success when he won in 1:55.2 with Chamba, the fifth winner to be claimed, for trainer Tee Wine. Also, Do It Again IT went the fastest mile of his short North American career when he won another section in 1:54.4 for driver Tyler Buter and trainer Hunter Oakes.
Racing resumes on Saturday, April 19 at Pocono with a 1 p.m. card, headlined by the $50,000 USD Bobby Weiss Series Championship for three-year-old pacing males in the 10th slot, with five of the eight entrants having two preliminary wins. Their filly counterparts will have four $20,000 USD divisions of their Weiss’s second leg, with three first-round winners going head-to-head-to-head in race four.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono Downs)