Coming off of a layoff of 26 days upon changing over to the Steven Brabrook stable, the Explosive Matter gelding Sortie was dismissed at 26-1 in the $12,800 featured claiming handicap trot on Monday afternoon (May 24) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but he roared past embattled leaders late to get the job done in 1:53.3.
Favoured Thisisshe made the lead before the :27 quarter but then yielded to Stop Resistin, who got a relatively soft half of :56.2 before opening some ground to a 1:24.2 three-quarters. Thisisshe was being left behind in the pocket, first-over Clarion Hall was not making much of an inroad – and the longshot board on the board was just moving outside.
In the stretch, Stop Resistin saw attacks to his immediate left and immediate right, but it was the one on the far outside from Sortie, which carried the day by a half-length. Thisisshe rallied in the "Pocono Pike" to grab second from the pacesetter by a neck, with Clarion Hall another neck back in fourth. The victorious winner of $365,489 recorded his first win since November 12 in his debut for owner Jaypaul Hoover.
The win was one of four on the card for driver Marcus Miller. Going into the last race of the day, he was even in victories with Matt Kakaley, but Kakaley won the finale to give him a fifth victory on the program.
In an oddity, the first winner on the card (Pond Jumper) and the last (Bellows Binge) were winning their second-straight races. None of the 12 winners in between had won a race since Jan. 22, spreading the wealth around. Of course, eight of those races were maiden contests, of which Kakaley won four and Miller three.
A pair of $15,300 features for the developing “Non-winners of 8 Races” class, one on each gait, will highlight the Tuesday (May 25) card at The Downs. The program pages for the 12:30 program will be available at the PHHA website.
(PHHA / Pocono)