Oakmont, trained by George Teague, Jr. and driven by Jim Morrill, Jr., came charging down the lane Wednesday, August 26 at Pocono Downs to capture the first $20,000 division of six Pennsylvania Stallion Series races.
Leaving from Post 2, Oakmont sat fourth or fifth throughout most of the race before making a torrid stretch drive to catch and pass front-runner Native Justice (driven by Joe Pavia, Jr.) and win in 1:53.
Half Moon Bay, trained and driven by Roger Hammer, won the second division by coming up the passing lane to win by a half-length over Morrill, Jr. and Manofleisuresuit. Yaoza (Andrew McCarthy) was third. The mile was clocked in 1:55.3.
In the third division, it was Jason Bartlett driving Sleek Hanover to a wire-to-wire victory from Post 7 for trainer Erv Miller. Sleek Hanover stopped the timer in 1:54.1. “He was waiting for someone to race at the half,” Bartlett said afterward. “My horse was strictly in hand. Erv told me before the race that the horse was a little lazy. We just went forward.”
Bartlett collected his second win of the night with five-year-old mare Ubetterthink Think. Those two wins in the first eight races inched Bartlett closer to the 3,000 win plateau. He came into the Wednesday night card needing seven wins to reach that milestone.
(With files from Pocono)