Photo: Curtis Salonick
By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Creatine gelding Ferretti sat a perfect two-hole trip, then moved outside mid-far turn and outtrotted heavy favorite Southwind Coors to post the fastest mile of 2025 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, 1:51.3, in the $25,000 fast-class handicap trot Sunday evening, during a card that would be rough going for chalkplayers and lucrative for longshot fanciers.
Matt Kakaley, three-time defending Pocono driving champion (and further featured elsewhere in this story), sent Ferretti right to the lead, then forced Southwind Coors, starting from his assigned outside post six, to press on well past the :27.2 quarter before earning the lead. The rest of the field was strung out in middle splits of :56 and 1:24.1, but Kakaley knew his horse was full of go and attacked midway on the far turn. The final margin was a half length, but Ferretti, the 7-2 second choice, was handled confidently late as he won for trainer Travis Alexander and the partnership of David Rovine Stable LLC (whose Hazeville equaled the year’s 1:47.4 pacing standard here Saturday) and CTC Stable.
In the $16,000 claiming handicap pace for high-priced horses, the Captaintreacherous gelding Hammering Hank was kept off a cutthroat battle for supremacy until the stretch, then tipped wide and sailed by everybody to come within a tick of his lifetime mark with a 1:51.2 victory. Matt Kakaley timed his winning move well with the 20-1 shot for trainer Joe Bongiorno and owners JB Racing and Stephen Klunowski.
Invictus was one of the few bright spots on the evening for chalkplayers when he won a $15,500 pace while lowering his mark three seconds to 1:50. But the victorious Huntsville sophomore gelding was extended to turn away a very game first-over I’m The One by a half length while winning for the meet’s top driver Tyler Buter, trainer Hunter Oakes, and owner Jeffrey Nanna.
It’s not often that a horse pays $50 or more to win twice in 20 days, but after returning exactly that price on June 2, The Boss Said came back Sunday and overcame post eight to return $84.80 to his scattered backers. It’s not often you see Matt Kakaley (who would later bring in a $42.80 winner as noted above) have a $50+ “bomber” in consecutive days, but he drove The Boss Said after winning a Stallion Series race with Ballast ($62.60) Saturday. And the horse’s trainer, Darren Taneyhill, with a win percentage right at 20%, is certainly one of the few trainers with that rate who lead a meet with three bombers to his credit already.
Later, everybody who saw what driver Braxten Boyd can do with a longshot last Saturday in Toronto got another taste of his skills, as he won with $67.60 horse Padre to tie Anthony Napolitano and Ridge Warren with four $50+ victories at the meet. At Pocono Tuesday Braxten brought in Rwehomeyet, who at $180.40 is by far the biggest-priced horse of 2025 at Pocono.
Live cards will be featured at 1 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday at Pocono Downs; on Monday (after Sunday’s Longshots Deluxe card) there will be a carryover into both the first race Pick 4 pool and the fifth race Pick 5 wager. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Creatine gelding Ferretti sat a perfect two-hole trip, then moved outside mid-far turn and outtrotted heavy favorite Southwind Coors to post the fastest mile of 2025 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, 1:51.3, in the $25,000 fast-class handicap trot Sunday evening, during a card that would be rough going for chalkplayers and lucrative for longshot fanciers.
Matt Kakaley, three-time defending Pocono driving champion (and further featured elsewhere in this story), sent Ferretti right to the lead, then forced Southwind Coors, starting from his assigned outside post six, to press on well past the :27.2 quarter before earning the lead. The rest of the field was strung out in middle splits of :56 and 1:24.1, but Kakaley knew his horse was full of go and attacked midway on the far turn. The final margin was a half length, but Ferretti, the 7-2 second choice, was handled confidently late as he won for trainer Travis Alexander and the partnership of David Rovine Stable LLC (whose Hazeville equaled the year’s 1:47.4 pacing standard here Saturday) and CTC Stable.
In the $16,000 claiming handicap pace for high-priced horses, the Captaintreacherous gelding Hammering Hank was kept off a cutthroat battle for supremacy until the stretch, then tipped wide and sailed by everybody to come within a tick of his lifetime mark with a 1:51.2 victory. Matt Kakaley timed his winning move well with the 20-1 shot for trainer Joe Bongiorno and owners JB Racing and Stephen Klunowski.
Invictus was one of the few bright spots on the evening for chalkplayers when he won a $15,500 pace while lowering his mark three seconds to 1:50. But the victorious Huntsville sophomore gelding was extended to turn away a very game first-over I’m The One by a half length while winning for the meet’s top driver Tyler Buter, trainer Hunter Oakes, and owner Jeffrey Nanna.
It’s not often that a horse pays $50 or more to win twice in 20 days, but after returning exactly that price on June 2, The Boss Said came back Sunday and overcame post eight to return $84.80 to his scattered backers. It’s not often you see Matt Kakaley (who would later bring in a $42.80 winner as noted above) have a $50+ “bomber” in consecutive days, but he drove The Boss Said after winning a Stallion Series race with Ballast ($62.60) Saturday. And the horse’s trainer, Darren Taneyhill, with a win percentage right at 20%, is certainly one of the few trainers with that rate who lead a meet with three bombers to his credit already.
Later, everybody who saw what driver Braxten Boyd can do with a longshot last Saturday in Toronto got another taste of his skills, as he won with $67.60 horse Padre to tie Anthony Napolitano and Ridge Warren with four $50+ victories at the meet. At Pocono Tuesday Braxten brought in Rwehomeyet, who at $180.40 is by far the biggest-priced horse of 2025 at Pocono.
Live cards will be featured at 1 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday at Pocono Downs; on Monday (after Sunday’s Longshots Deluxe card) there will be a carryover into both the first race Pick 4 pool and the fifth race Pick 5 wager. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
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