The local stakes season for two-year-olds opened with a bang on the Monday, June 30 before the Fourth of July at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, as Mr Big Spender trotted the fastest mile of the year for a baby over a five-eighths-mile track, 1:54.2, when he won one of four $41,096 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event.
The Captain Corey-Reilly colt sat fourth while Dublin Hanover and then Oversear put up fractions of :28 and :57, with Mr Big Spender starting forward uncovered nearing the three-quarters in 1:25.3 and gaining through the lane. The first-over and the pacesetting Oversear were inseparable to the naked eye at the wire, but the photo finish showed Mr Big Spender (pictured above) more photogenic by the shortest possible margin under the urging of Matt Kakaley. (Had Oversear gotten to the wire first, he would have set a new track record for baby geldings, eclipsing the 1:54.4 mark set by Amigo Volo.)
Mr Big Spender was the only one of the four All-Stars winners to have a purse race under his girth, qualifying twice free-legged and then adding hopples in a third-place finish. Now he is a season’s leader for trainer Norm Parker and owners Bart and Todd Brice.
Driver Tim Tetrick, trainer Scott Di Domenico and the partnership of Di Domenico’s Triple D Stables Inc. and Joseph Faraldo sent out two first-timers, both coming off winning qualifiers, to All-Stars stakes victories and reducing their best times. One was another son of Captain Corey, the colt Captain Jordan (dam Jordan Blue Chip), who came home from the pocket in :28 to win in 1:56.3. The other was the International Moni gelding An Honest Buck (dam Honorable Daughter, 2008 Dan Patch Award winner and world champion), who didn’t clear a pesky Be Green until the three-eighths, then resisted that one inching back up the inside late for a half-length win in 1:57.3.
The fourth All-Stars race went to the Bar Hopping-Twice Is Right colt Neighver Punt, who strolled to the half in 1:01 then came a last half in :57.3 for a 1:58.3 maiden mark for driver Dexter Dunn, trainer Marcus Melander and Courant Inc.
The excellent Monday card at Pocono also featured a $34,247 distaff fast-class pace, won by the Always A Virgin mare Walkin On Sunshine in 1:50.1. The trip was certainly no walk in the park for the seasonal winner of 10 of 15, as she had to surmount the tuck-then-first-over route, with a :26.4 last quarter allowing her to do that while defeating Dougs Babe A by half a length for driver Jack Pelling, trainer-father Brett Pelling, and owners Maynard Miller, Daniel Lehman and Michael Yoder.
The racing week at Pocono will close out on Tuesday, July 1 with a card beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday’s longtime feature, the claiming handicap for the big-tag trotters on the grounds, is spotlighted again.
(With files from PHHA / Pocono Downs)