WILKES-BARRE PA – The leadling driver and trainer at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, Tyler Buter and Ron Burke, joined up for a pair of victories on the Tuesday afternoon card, including a win with Jeffery P in the $15,000 claiming handicap for trotters with hefty pricetags.
Buter made command early with the winning Full Count gelding, then yielded to Shinkansen as that lover of the lead put up fractions of :27, :56.3, and 1:24.3. The outer tiers were clogged up, so the race basically came down to the pacesetter and the pocketsitter, with Jeffery P, the slight favorite, going by by a neck in the final strides. A winner of three of his last four with career totals of 52 wins and $548,230, Jeffery P is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC along with Phil Collura.
In the $13,500 claiming handicap trot for horses priced just below the feature field, 17-1 longshot Inn At Rodanthe swung four-wide at headstretch and closed furiously to win by a half length in 1:56. Matt Kakaley was behind the Cantab Hall gelding as he was victorious for trainer Brandon Presto and owner Ameer Major.
Braxten Boyd and George Napolitano Jr. dead-heated for the top driving spot on the day with three victories apiece. Their triples had a contribution made by a dead-heat for win in the thirteenth race, when favored Transparency (“GNap”) and second choice Justasec N (Boyd) could not be separated by the camera at the end of a 1:50.1 mile.
Over this Fourth of July weekend, Pocono will be racing on Saturday at 1 p.m. (with a carryover into the race five Pick 5 pool), Sunday at 6 p.m., and then on Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m.; the last two-named cards will contain action for Pennsylvania All-Stars two-year-olds. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.