Flash Move, whose last start of his 2023 campaign was a 1:50 victory in the Pennsylvania Stallion Series Championship for sophomore pacing males, bettered that time by a tick while taking a new mark in the $20,548 pacing feature on Tuesday afternoon, May 21 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
Andrew McCarthy got the Heston Blue Chip gelding away fourth, watching as Strengthfromabove kept Allabamajamma outside through a :26.2 quarter, then letting him go to sit the pocket as the pacesetter hit the half in :54.3. Flash Move was put into first-over grind mode before, though, and past the 1:22.1 three-quarters, battling the leader. There was not much difference between those two entering the stretch, and then Strengthfromabove got access to the Pocono Pike and worked to a short lead just past mid-stretch. But Flash Move continued to give his best and out-paced that innermost rival by a neck, with Alabamajamma holding for third, another 1-1/2 lengths back.
Flash Move, a winner of half of his 14 career starts, is owned by trainer Robert Cleary along with Royal Wire Products Inc.
Tyler Buter and Anthony Napolitano guided three winners apiece on Tuesday. In an unusual pattern for the four-day racing week, each card yielded five drivers who had at least two winners, but Buter and Napolitano’s daily total of three was equalled only by Kakaley on Saturday. The meet’s leading driver, Kakaley was also the only pilot to have at least two successes each day.
Racing resumes at Pocono Downs with a Saturday program at 1 p.m. The current schedule finds racing at the mountain oval on Saturdays, Mondays and Tuesdays at 1 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. Free Pocono programs are available at phha.org.
(With files from PHHA / Pocono)