WILKES-BARRE PA – Pacer Casual Cool and trotter P L Notsonice each beat out some tough opposition to take the $18,500 features on their gait during the Saturday afternoon card at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
The American Ideal gelding Casual Cool, whose last victory came on May 7 in a “nw6400” class, defeated today’s “nw20000” field with a gritty 1:49.2 effort. Ridge Warren sent the winner of $628,790 frontward early, enduring some time three-wide and then onward around favored Ultimaroca to get the top in :26.1. Casual Cool put up midsplits of :54.2 and 1:21.4 then braced for a stretch charge, which did come – Maximus Miki off cover to his right, Ultimaroca up the inside to his left. Casual Cool was game and got the job done by a head over “Miki,” with Ultimaroca only a neck behind the winner, who is trained by Daniel Renaud for Dune Road Stables LLC
On the trotting side, the Kadabra mare P L Notsonice broke a string of four straight seconds by winning emphatically in 1:52.3. The winner of $381,291 set fractions of :27.2, :56.1, and 1:24, then beat Pocono Pike-shooting Robbie Pev by 2½ lengths for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Steven Brabrook, and Elite Harness Racing LLC.
Code Cracker and Aflame Hanover both won in 1:50 on the card; the latter gets an extra mention in that he went over $500,000 in career earnings with the victory.
Many of the top three-year-old trotting fillies in North America will be racing in two $70,649 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes second prelim round divisions during Pocono’s 6 p.m. card Sunday, Recent stakes winners include Pennsylvania Sire Stakes success stories Sheer Faith and Railee Something and Pennsylvania All-Stars victresses Angelpedia and Bond. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.