WILKES-BARRE PA – Eight of the first ten races at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Tuesday afternoon were won by favorites, including Red Power ($3.40) in the first of three $17,000 feature races. But the other features were in the next two races, and they went to Chuppah On ($34.80) and then Bang Bang Boinga ($88.20).
The Explosive Matter gelding Bang Bang Boinga raced third-inside most of the mile, but gained up into the pocket as the two-holer moved outside to challenge approaching the far bend. It was a cavalry charge to the finish, with all five checkgetters within three-quarters of a length of each other at the wire, but Bang Bang Boinga’s charge up the Pocono Pike allowed him to get home first a neck ahead of the sweeping favorite So Long Hanover (that one’s sixth second in his last seven starts) while equaling his lifetime mark of 1:56 for trainer/driver Joe Poliseno and owner Mary Ellen Sarama.
The Tellitlikeitis gelding Red Power, the only feature winner to reward the public’s faith in him, didn’t have it easy, having to go in :26.4 to make the lead, keeping out a sustained middle-half challenge from Diamond Head, then warding off potential pocket rocket Actor Hanover by a half-length while reducing his mark to 1:50. Red Power has now won eight of eighteen seasonal starts, with George Napolitano Jr. handling the driving duties Tuesday for trainer Brian Malone and owner Peter Paul Venturini.