The theme of a Wednesday morning, June 25 baby race session at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, which started at 9 a.m. to beat the coming stifling heat (it was already 30 degrees Celsius by 10 a.m.) was indeed “hot stables” in the respective divisions.
Driver Matt Kakaley and trainer George Ducharme combined with a trio of first-time trotting colts, who now all show a win on their first charted line while taking all three of that section’s races. The quickest was Navigator One (Walner-Bee The Queen), who came home out of the pocket in :29 to win in 1:58.3 for owner/breeder Alfred Ross.
The other pair in Team Kakaley/Ducharme’s three-of-a-kind were False Dogma (Captain Corey-Sister Christina) in an engine 1:59.3 tally with :29.3 on the end and the Tactical Landing-Red Wies And Blue baby Tactical Red, also a leader throughout in 2:00 with a :28.4 last quarter.
Steve Salerno is a five-time Pocono title winner over his distinguished career, but in semi-retirement he hadn’t won even a qualifying race in over four years when he took the sulky seat behind two Emily Bost two-year-old trotting fillies by Greenshoe and kept their winning streaks going in a divisional sweep. Alexandriabluechip (dam Queendom) now has three wins, one at Saratoga and two here, after she was the quicker, front-ending in 1:59.4 with a :29.4 finale for owners Frank Salino Jr., Bruce Potter, Guy Roemer and Theresa Naylor. Ms Bojangles (dam Explosive High) also has done the Saratoga – Pocono double after coming back quarters each in :29.2 on the lead for a 2:01.2 win.
“Sweeps” certainly weren’t confined to the trotting action. The two pacing colt sections were both captured by Travis Alexander pupils, with the faster being the Perfect Sting-Little Miss K colt Everlast Sting Deo, owned by Morrison Racing Stables, coming from third to win in 1:55.3 with a :28 final frame for driver Braxten Boyd as the barn was 1-2-3 in this contest. Matt Kakaley was the driver for the Sweet Lou-Life Is A Beach colt Sweet Joel, who won his first start controlling the throttle in 1:58.1 with a :28.4 last quarter.
Alexander and Kakaley also won a pair of the four sections for pacing fillies, but the fastest winner was Say Goodnight. In her first start, she came from way back to win and here she vacated the pocket past the half and sped her own last half in :55 to stop the timer at 1:54.3 for driver Tyler Buter, trainer Nicholas Devita and owners David Hamm and Glenn Phillips. The Papi Rob Hanover-One Last Kiss filly was bred by Steve Jones.
The winning baby fillies under the Alexander-Kakaley banner were Big Weekend (Captaintreacherous-Tica Hanover), who opened the session with an engine win in 1:55 with a :27.1 last quarter and the Huntsville-All On Top Hanover miss Odds On Monetary, coming home in :28 in a 1:56.1 success story.
The fourth frosh pacing filly added a local win to an earlier Monticello victory: Ev Does It (Roll With Joe-Tesla Hanover), a 1:57.3 winner with a :29 late panel for driver Braxten Boyd and trainer Mark Ford.
Live harness racing resumes at Pocono on Saturday with a 1 p.m. card.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)