The 2014 US trotting colt champion Pinkman and Jimmy Takter stablemate Uncle Lasse are now perfect in three Pennsylvania Sire Stakes starts this year after capturing their divisions of the third preliminary round for three-year-old trotting colt Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
In the third section, Wicker Hanover, the only non-Takterite to win in 10 cuts of this event in 2015, made it two straight wins with a hard-earned nose victory that prevented a Team Takter sweep.
Uncle Lasse was the fastest divisional Sire Stakes winner for the second straight round of prelims, following up on his 1:51.4 win at The Meadows with a 1:52.2 tally Saturday at Pocono. Driver Brett Miller tucked the son of Donato Hanover in fourth, then quarter-moved him to the top, and a :55.4 last half left the rest of the field far in arrears. The brother to 2014 Trotter of the Year Shake It Cerry is owned by Solveig’s Racing Partners.
Pinkman continued to exhibit championship form, as the Explosive Matter gelding went wire-to-wire for Miller/Takter in 1:53. He won by one and three-quarter lengths over last year’s two-year-old Sire Stakes champion Billy Flynn, making his seasonal debut, with Jim Morrill Jr. picking up the drive behind Billy Flynn, whom Miller drove regularly last year. Christina Takter, John & Jim Fielding, Herb Liverman, and Joyce McClelland share ownership of the horse many feel to be the Hambletonian favourite (or is that the male Hambletonian favourite?).
Wicker Hanover took a Sire Stakes cut at The Meadows, and he made a return visit to Victory Lane at Pocono, making a sweeping move off cover to the mid-stretch lead. But anybody who’s seen the TV show Breaking Bad knows there’s drama afoot whenever Walter White’s around, and indeed that Takter-trained colt, on Wicker’s back most of the way, came flying late to be just nosed out. Wicker Hanover, who gave Explosive Matter two of the three Sires siring credits, equalled his lifetime best of 1:53 with the tight triumph for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Noel Daley, and the Christer Haggstrom Racing Stable Inc.
On Sunday at Pocono, there will be five divisions of the $100,000 counterpart event for Stallion Series horses, with the first race listed for 6:30 p.m.
(PHHA / Pocono)