WILKES-BARRE PA – There were two $15,000 divisions of the headliner trot on Monday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, with Weather Vanes and Emira Mil IT emerging victorious with strong late moves.
Emira Mil IT brings with her as good a pedigree as you will find in literally the world – the three-year-old filly is a daughter of Face Time Bourbon out of a Varenne mare, both males international superstars. Emira Mil IT is in top form opening her 2023 campaign, winning her first three starts and lowering her lifetime mark to 1:53 here for Pimpricks Inc.
Trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt got Emira Mil IT in the pocket behind Kaddari well before the :29 quarter, then saw favored (1-1* to ”Emira”’s 6-5) Tactical Mounds move to the lead and speed away to middle fractions of :57.1 and 1:24.4. Svanstedt sat chilly with the stablemate to contemporaries Special Way and Bond until nearing headstretch, then moved her out and made up close to three lengths in the drive with a wicked late burst to finish a head ahead of Tactical Mounds.
In the other feature division, Jim Pantaleano made a well-timed sweeping move with Weather Vanes, clearing to the lead early on the far turn and going on to equal his lifetime mark of 1:56.1. David Hoover owns and trains the son of Deweycheatumnhowe.
The Pocono racing week ends with Tuesday’s 1 p.m. card; there are three $16,000 divisions of a high-level class for developing horses. Also, the first field exclusively made up of two-year-olds start off the pari-mutuel freshman racing here for 2023, with trotting fillies first in the spotlight. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.