Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen's Association
Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen's Association
  • Home
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Benefits
  • Join
  • News
  • Giving
  • PAC
  • Blog

4000 WINS FOR MATT KAKALEY!

9/10/2017

0 Comments

 
Matt Kakaley harness driver celebrates 4000th win at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono
Joining Matt in the winner's circle are his parents, Linda & John; and girlfriend Annie, along with friends, and Jenn Starr from Pocono. Photo: Curtis Salonick.
Matt Kakaley posted the 4000th win of his driving career on Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, guiding the maiden trotter Rose Run Tyrone to an open length victory to reach the milestone.
Fittingly, Matt’s 4000th winner was behind a horse trained by Ron Burke, for the 29-year-old Kakaley’s career really took off at the start of the decade when he became one of the preferred drivers for Burke’s far-flung stable, giving him plentiful driving opportunities at top ovals and the chance to handle some of the sport’s best horses. Kakaley has posted seven straight seasons of earnings over $5.9M, and in early September of this year he has already bankrolled almost $6.5M, putting him in line to reach his personal seasonal high of $8.1M, which he accomplished in 2014.

 (And, by gosh, that almost looked like a smile on the poker-faced-driving Kakaley as he went under the finish line!)

Celebrity Eventsy earned a new lifetime mark of 1:52.2 after taking full advantage of a pocket journey in winning the $25,000 winners-over trot. Jim Marohn Jr. hustled the four-year-old daughter of Manofmanymissions to the lead before the 27.2 quarter, then yielded to Centurion ATM and sat in the golden chair through middle splits of 56 and 1:24. But Centurion ATM had no answer for the pocket rocket late as Celebrity Eventsy blasted on by to win by 2¾ lengths. Staffan Lind conditions the winner of $551,060 for Celebrity Farms.

The Majestic Son gelding Golden Son notched his ninth victory of the season, and third in his last four starts, while equaling his lifetime best of 1:53.2 in the $20,000 co-feature trot. Driver George Napolitano Jr. sent the four-year-old to the lead past the quarter and remained in control from there, although Golden Son had to stay sharp to hold off the big late bid of third-over Infiniti As by a half-length. Jenny Melander trains the winner, who has earned $138,767 already this year, for owners John Devito and Rocco Manniello.

The Downs will now celebrate its annual “early” Oktoberfest, with a break in racing until a week from Monday, the 18th, when post time will be at 4:30 p.m.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    -----------------------PA Harness Week
    -----------------------

    Official fan blog and online home of TV's PA HarnessWeek, airing Saturdays at 10:30am on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

    facebook.com/harnesswek
    twitter.com/paharnessweek

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All
    Breeders Crown 2018
    Handicapping Harrah's
    Handicapping Pocono
    Harrah's Philadelphia
    News
    PA HarnessWeek
    The Downs At Mohegan Sun Pocono

    RSS Feed

      GET THE LATEST FAN NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS.

      Join our mailing list for updates on the latest events, giveaways, promos and more. We will never sell or share your information.
    Join

CAREERS
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
press & media