Unreasonable won the inaugural $105,634 Mohegan Cup for free-for-all pacing mares on Sunday, July 26 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, tying the longstanding track record for four-year-old pacing mares with a powerful front-end victory in 1:48.
The early rush for prime racing position necessitated Unreasonable and Todd McCarthy to zoom up four-wide to take the lead, with the 1-2 favourite looping three inside rivals, including second choice Louies Girl N (Jason Bartlett). The latter pressed on three- then two-wide in hopes of getting a spot near the leader, but with 77-1 shot Front Page Story (Pat Lachance) taking full advantage of track geometry from the rail and maintaining the pocket, Louies Girl N had to back off to third in the wicked :25.2 opener.
Just before the :54.1 half, 41-1 shot Champagne Room (Brad Chisholm) started an uncovered move that put pressure on Unreasonable, forcing her to reach the three-quarters in 1:21. The former’s big uncovered brush ended on the far turn, and with Front Page Story gapping a bit in the pocket and Louies Girl N locked behind her, Unreasonable was able to maintain a clear advantage with the mildest of coaxing – and the third quarter of :27 or less she paced in the race. Louies Girl N found belated clearance deep in the Pocono Pike to take second, 1-1/4 lengths behind the winner and a half-length ahead of Front Page Story, who in turn preserved third in a photo with fellow longshot The Last Martini (Colin Kelly).
The 1:48 mile matched Somwherovrarainbow's 12-year-old divisional track record. That clocking is also the Pocono standard for distaffs of any age.
A daughter of Huntsville-Roaring To Go, Unreasonable had been showing top form before coming to Pocono, with two close losses to Twin B Joe Fresh preceded by a third to Miki And Minnie in the best stakes company North America had to offer. In the Mohegan Cup (named after the Connecticut-based Native American tribe that operates Pocono), Unreasonable showed she can step with the very best of her division as she boosted her bankroll to $1,327,220 lifetime. The mare, now 14-for-36 for her career, races for trainer Andrew Harris and owner Punisher 11 Stable LLC. She paid $3 to win.
Matt Kakaley had three driving victories to take top honours on the 12-race Sunday card. Åke Svanstedt guided two winners, both of whom he trained, and Brad Chisholm drove two winners, both of whom are trained by Brett Pelling.
Racing will be held on Monday at Pocono at 1 p.m., with the feature a $21,000 USD conditioned trot for the veteran fast-class performers.
(PHHA/Pocono)