The $30,000 Championship of the Bobby Weiss Series for trotting distaffs, held at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono Tuesday, was shaping up normally just past the half: Connie Jean, with a win and three seconds in the prelims, was on the lead, with Sunrise Avenue, the top prelim competitor with three wins and a second, first-over, and 1-9 favourite Checkmate Time, off a sensational 1:53.3 win in her only prelim, well-placed second-over.
Then early in the backstretch, it was as if somebody sent a phonograph needle skidding and scratching across a vinyl album, as racing dissonance grew louder and louder. Checkmate Time made a break at that point; later Connie Jean would give up the lead to Sunrise Avenue in early stretch, only to see the latter tire, as 47-1 Abbies Celticlass – eighth when the needle started to skid early backstretch -- closed steadily to win in a shocker in 1:55.2, with the four outer-tier horses a very Pocono-atypical 1-2-3-4 at the wire.
Connie Jean forced tucks and hit the quarter in :27.2; Checkmate Time pulled from sixth at the quarter and soon flushed the cover of Sunrise Avenue, who worked up to the leader nearing the :57 half. Checkmate Time made her misstep as the speed sharpened down the back, with Whambamthankumaam, Abbies Celticlass, and Gins Tonic moving to second-/third-/fourth-over by the three-quarter pole in 1:25.4.
The inner tier started to collapse headstretch, unusual over the this speed-favouring oval, and though Sunrise Avenue went to the top, she did not open much distance, and it would be Whambamthankumaam going by her towards mid-stretch, only to see Abbies Celticlass and driver Matt Kakaley rallied of Whambamthankumaam’s back to get the half-length decision while lowering her mark by two seconds. Sunrise Avenue lasted for third over Gins Tonic; Talkin Tootsie used the deep Pocono Pike to get the last check.
The victorious Explosive Matter mare was no slouch in the series prelims, with a first, second, third, and fourth, but she was double digits behind Checkmate Time last week, prompting her long-odds dismissal. But the toteboard was no factor to winning trainer Ken Hess, Jr. and the winning ownership of Stop The Jade Farm LLC, although it may have shocked others, with $2-based payouts of $96.00 to win, $672.80 for the Exacta, $3754.60 for the Trifecta, and $41,822.40 for the Superfecta (though the actual pool was nowhere nearly that big).
The trotting distaffs’ male counterparts began their Weiss action a week later, so on Tuesday they raced their fourth and final preliminary leg, going for $15,000 in each of two divisions. Ooh Rah and Hilarious Hero, both winners in prelims one and two before losing last week, regained their winning ways during this card.
The Credit Winner four-year-old gelding Ooh Rah, who broke before the start as the favourite last week, minded his manners this outing and led at every call to take his Weiss cut in 1:56.2. George Napolitano, Jr. sent Ooh Rah to the lead, where he remained strong to the wire, winning by 2-1/2 lengths over Bend In The River, the other double winner in the early prelims who came up short the third week. Kathleen La Montagne trains the five-time seasonal winner, and she co-owns him with Donald La Montagne.
Hilarious Hero, as noted, bounced back in Tuesday’s second section, rallying from the pocket to post a half-length victory in 1:56. Matt Kakaley vacated the two-hole with the four-year-old Deweycheatumnhowe four-year-old gelding past mid-turn, keeping circling Muscles On Fire three-deep through the curve, and that move may have made the difference in the outcome as Hilarious Hero out footed his rival home, posting his fourth win in five 2017 starts (after going 0-for-24 at two and three) for trainer Jenny Melander and the ownership of Melander Racing Inc and Clark Stables LLC.
After the preliminaries, the ranking of the competitors, with top-listed here first, are: Hilarious Hero, Ooh Rah, Bend In The River, Uncle Leroy, Muscles On Fire, Gustavo Fring, Tech Titan, Perseverance, and Armbro Hall. Gustavo Fring was second in a Dexter Cup elim last Saturday at Freehold; watching tomorrow’s Freehold draw for this Saturday’s final with interest will be AE1 Mister Photogenic.
Next racing at Pocono will be Saturday, Kentucky Derby Day, with a doubleheader of racing: a 10-race “brunch” card starting at 11 a.m., and then a 13-race card after the Derby, topped by the $50,000 Van Rose Memorial Pace, with of field of eight who average over $1 million in lifetime earnings; Sunfire Blue Chip, Mcwicked, and Somewhere In L A are the three early choices.
(PHHA/Pocono)