Miss Jum Jabber, a recent winner in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and PA All Stars, took her sixth straight victory as the filly won a $24,306 upper-level conditioned pace for fillies and mares on Monday, May 25 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
She got away in the pocket behind Gigglingonthebeach (Lauren Tritton), a sophomore stakes winner who took a mark of 1:50 at Pocono last year. That mare got easy early fractions of :28 and :56.3, giving three-year-old Miss Jum Jabber a tall task in the back half. But it proved no problem for Miss Jum Jabber, who stayed in position while following the leader through a :27 third split to a 1:23.3 three-quarters, then came out on the turn to challenge. Miss Jum Jabber fashioned a :26.2 last quarter – on a five-eighths-mile track, in her seventh lifetime start – to overhaul the talented pacesetter by a half-length in 1:50.1. Please Be You (Braxten Boyd) was third.
Owned by Pelling Racing LLC, Miss Jum Jabber has now won six straight starts, with Monday’s win her fastest ever. The daughter of Bettors Wish-Treacherous Reign is six-for-seven lifetime with $104,049 in earnings for trainer Brett Pelling. She may now opt to gain more experience — with still two victories remaining before winning out of this class — or return to stakes competition in the coming weeks. She paid $2.20 to win on Monday.
Another sharp Pelling-trained winner was the six-year-old Always A Virgin-Hatsoff Hanover mare Walkin On Sunshine, who paced to a 1:51.1 victory in the featured $38,194 Mares Winners Over Handicap Pace. McCarthy had the winner three-wide early en route to command by the :26.2 quarter and continued on with middle fractions of :54 and 1:21.4. Those numbers would be enough to bottom out many a field, but the opposition came at her in waves nearing the wire – Stayingwiththewind (George Napolitano Jr.) from the first-over path, and Looklikediamonds A (Lauren Tritton) up the Pocono Pike. Walkin On Sunshine made her lead stand, defeating Stayingwiththewind by a neck, with Looklikediamonds A just another neck back from taking it all.
Walkin On Sunshine has already earned six figures this year, her fourth season in a row of accomplishing that feat with no signs of letting up soon, and her lifetime earnings are at $930,907. Maynard Miller, Daniel Lehman and Michael Yoder own the fast mare, who is now 31-for-78 lifetime. The win price was $4.
In all, Andrew McCarthy drove four winners on the 13-race card. The brothers Napolitano, Anthony and George Jr., each came home first twice, as did pupils of Pelling and Ron Burke.
Tuesday’s feature at Pocono is the $35,000 USD championship of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series, with Pisces Rising looking for a series sweep after taking all three preliminary starts. A major obstacle will be his post-eight draw. After that, Pocono adds Sunday racing starting at 5 p.m. to its basic Saturday-Monday-Tuesday 1 p.m. schedule, with the Sunday sessions continuing for nine weeks.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono; photo of Miss Jum Jabber winning on May 11)