Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania leading driver Tyler Buter combined with Ron Burke, the track's top trainer, to take the $28,571 featured conditioned pace with Southwind Coors, who was one of five winners for the reinsman on the 12-race Tuesday, June 30 card.
The Walner-Southwind Cabaret gelding was content to sit in the pocket behind the pace set by Super Duper Cooper (Matt Kakaley), who got away with mild fractions of :27.3, :56.3, and 1:25. Buter got Southwind Coors into high gear midway on the final bend, and the six-year-old trotted his own last quarter in :27.1 to defeat the pacesetter by two lengths in 1:52.2 for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Phil Collura. Southwind Arturo (Anthony Napolitano) was third.
Southwind Coors earned his second win of the season in nine starts and upped his career totals to 21 wins and $1,023,113 in earnings from 82 starts. He paid $2.40 to win.
Up-and-coming trotters gathered for a $22,143 sub-featured conditioned event, with Buter again the winning driver as the three-year-old Gimpanzee-Nothing But Moni filly R Zee ($14.60) lowered her lifetime mark to 1:54.2. The John Butenschoen-trained winner took early control and set the pace, then saw off a couple of threats in the final quarter to earn the victory for lessees M&L of Delaware/Armitage Farm.
With the Pennsylvania stakes season just around the corner, there were pacing races carded for two-year-olds of both sexes. The two male winners, both making their pari-mutuel bows after double qualifying victories and both making front-stretch moves to command, were the Huntsville-Onassis Blue Chip colt Babylon Blue Chip ($3.40) in 1:55 for driver Buter, trainer Hunter Oakes and owner Exceed Stables LLC; and the American Ideal-Preeminence colt Primacy Station ($2.80), winning in 1:55.2 for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Travis Alexander, and the partnership of Alexander Racing Stable LLC, C M T Farms, EVM Racing and James Scarpias.
The one freshman pace for fillies was captured by Buter with the Papi Rob Hanover-Happy Hannah miss Happy Papi, a winner in her only prep race and here winning in 1:57.2 after picking her way through far-turn traffic difficulties. Nick Devita conditions the promising miss for David Hamm and Glenn Phillips.
Buter also won with Real Willey ($6.60) and paraded back five total winners Tuesday. The defending Pocono driving champion has 135 wins at the track this season, good for an advantage of 29 over second-placed Anthony Napolitano.
Doublers on the program were drivers Matt Kakaley and Anthony Napolitano and trainer Travis Alexander.
Pocono’s PHHA sister track Harrah’s Philadelphia has canceled its Thursday and Friday racing because of the expected heat, so the next scheduled eastern Pennsylvania pari-mutuel action is Pocono’s 1 p.m. card Saturday (with the weather expected to cool a bit by then). On that day, the Pennsylvania All-Stars series for two-year-olds will get underway with three $30,000 USD divisions for male trotters.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono)