Elysium Lindy, the only horse coming into Monday night’s $30,000 Bobby Weiss Series Championship for trotting males with two consecutive victories, made it three straight with a gate-to-wire victory in 1:55.3 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Driver Jim Marshall III put the son of Cantab Hall on the lead early, reaching the quarter in :27.4, then combined a stretch headwind with a rating of his sophomore’s speed and hit the half in :58. That conserving of energy likely aided his cause greatly, as he was able to turn away the challenge of 9-5 second choice Magenta Man at the three-quarter pole in 1:26.1. He then continued on gamely to the wire to deny Dominus Hanover “pocket rocket” status by a neck, with Celebrity Bugatti, a three-time series winner who was the 7-5 chalk despite the outside post nine, closing very strongly to be third, just a half-length further behind, after being outside virtually the entire mile.
Elysium Lindy, with two wins and two seconds in his four Weiss preliminaries for owner George Beck, was second in the point standings behind Celebrity Bugatti, who was undefeated in three Weiss prelims before Elysium Lindy caught him late in the final preliminary. This time Elysium Lindy took control of the throttle and kept control of the race to the wire, running his seasonal tally to 7-4-3-0-$48,000 and his lifetime bankroll to $67,460, with tonight’s clocking only two-fifths off the personal best he posted last week.
As driver Marshall left the winner’s circle, his wife, trainer Donna Marshall, gave him a kiss as everyone headed back to the paddock. Elysium Lindy turned back to look at them at that particular moment – but he’s a gelding, so his reaction was of utter indifference.
(PHHA/Pocono)