Photo: Curtis Salonick
By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Always B Miki gelding Joemikiyoursofine worked out a pocket trip, then cleared up the inside and had enough kick to catch favored Federer, who had taken a short stretch lead after an uncovered trip, to capture the $20,000 fast-class feature in 1:50.4 on Kentucky Derby Saturday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
Joemikiyoursofine was looped out of the gate and made the top soon past a :27 opener; Stag Party was just behind that one and next cleared to the lead, putting up midsplits of :55.4 and 1:23, having to deal with a solid grind from halfway down the backstretch from Federer. Federer as noted went on to gain a short advantage, but Braxten Boyd quickly had started the winner up again, and he beat out the uncovered favorite by three quarters of a length. Chris Choate trains the winner of $348,805 for owners Anthony Ruggeri and Richard Tosies.
There was a $16,000 subfeature for the second-level horses at each gait, and the pace produced the fastest mile of the day, a 1:49.4 victory for Manolete that raised his lifetime bankroll to $483,313. Andrew McCarthy used quarter-moving tactics with the second-time 2026 starter, and a pair of :27.3 back quarters helped the son of Cattlewash keep place horse Boom N 1¾ lengths at bay for trainer Karen Williams and the ampersand owners, M&L Of Delaware LLC and M&M Harness Racing LLC.
The $16,000 trot was reduced to four by scratches, but it still was an exciting contest as Duly Resolved headed straight down the road for driver George Napolitano, then held his ground staunchly to defeat first-over Give Me A Yankee by a head in 1:54.2. A career winner of $868,337, the victorious altered son of Resolve is trained by Enrico Robinson for Pollack Racing LLC.
Younger, on-the-way-up trotters went for $17,500, and prevailing was Shoresy, a son of Cantab Hall who has now won seven times at the young Pocono meet, including Saturday’s fifth seasonal victory in this very class, which finally will force him to move up as he has now exceeded the “AE” money condition. Shoresy had won only one of his last four starts, but today he was on top of his game to take a new mark of 1:53.3 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Per Engblom (the top conditioner at Pocono), and owners Timothy Betts and Shanamphilankilou Inc.
Five drivers had exclusivity in the winners circle after Saturday’s eleven races – Braxten Boyd tripled, and driving doublers were Andrew McCarthy, Anthony and George Napolitano, and Ridge Warren. Darren Taneyhill, second on the PcD trainers list, had two of his three victories driven by Warren; Tee Wine teamed up with Boyd for both of his wins.
Next racing at Pocono will be on Monday at 1 p.m.; the Tuesday 1 p.m. card finds the Game Of Claims Series returning with four $15,000 divisions for $20,000 base-tagged claimers. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
WILKES-BARRE PA – The Always B Miki gelding Joemikiyoursofine worked out a pocket trip, then cleared up the inside and had enough kick to catch favored Federer, who had taken a short stretch lead after an uncovered trip, to capture the $20,000 fast-class feature in 1:50.4 on Kentucky Derby Saturday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
Joemikiyoursofine was looped out of the gate and made the top soon past a :27 opener; Stag Party was just behind that one and next cleared to the lead, putting up midsplits of :55.4 and 1:23, having to deal with a solid grind from halfway down the backstretch from Federer. Federer as noted went on to gain a short advantage, but Braxten Boyd quickly had started the winner up again, and he beat out the uncovered favorite by three quarters of a length. Chris Choate trains the winner of $348,805 for owners Anthony Ruggeri and Richard Tosies.
There was a $16,000 subfeature for the second-level horses at each gait, and the pace produced the fastest mile of the day, a 1:49.4 victory for Manolete that raised his lifetime bankroll to $483,313. Andrew McCarthy used quarter-moving tactics with the second-time 2026 starter, and a pair of :27.3 back quarters helped the son of Cattlewash keep place horse Boom N 1¾ lengths at bay for trainer Karen Williams and the ampersand owners, M&L Of Delaware LLC and M&M Harness Racing LLC.
The $16,000 trot was reduced to four by scratches, but it still was an exciting contest as Duly Resolved headed straight down the road for driver George Napolitano, then held his ground staunchly to defeat first-over Give Me A Yankee by a head in 1:54.2. A career winner of $868,337, the victorious altered son of Resolve is trained by Enrico Robinson for Pollack Racing LLC.
Younger, on-the-way-up trotters went for $17,500, and prevailing was Shoresy, a son of Cantab Hall who has now won seven times at the young Pocono meet, including Saturday’s fifth seasonal victory in this very class, which finally will force him to move up as he has now exceeded the “AE” money condition. Shoresy had won only one of his last four starts, but today he was on top of his game to take a new mark of 1:53.3 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Per Engblom (the top conditioner at Pocono), and owners Timothy Betts and Shanamphilankilou Inc.
Five drivers had exclusivity in the winners circle after Saturday’s eleven races – Braxten Boyd tripled, and driving doublers were Andrew McCarthy, Anthony and George Napolitano, and Ridge Warren. Darren Taneyhill, second on the PcD trainers list, had two of his three victories driven by Warren; Tee Wine teamed up with Boyd for both of his wins.
Next racing at Pocono will be on Monday at 1 p.m.; the Tuesday 1 p.m. card finds the Game Of Claims Series returning with four $15,000 divisions for $20,000 base-tagged claimers. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
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