WILKES-BARRE PA – In wet weather and over a worsening surface Sunday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Millies Possesion remained undefeated in her career and after three Pennsylvania Sire Stakes preliminaries for three-year-old trotting fillies, triumphing in one of three $55,168 PaSS divisions, while the four $20,000 Stallion Series sections were divided equally between drivers George Napolitano Jr. (who also won a Sire Stakes) and Tyler Buter.
Millies Possesion showed a great deal of fortitude in her 1:56.3 tally. She tucked fourth before the :29 quarter, then looked to make a quarter move for driver Dexter Dunn but was beaten to the punch by Firedbylindie, who moved from third to take the field to the half in :59.2. Dunn had the winning daughter of Possess The Will going again uncovered by the 5/8 and up to challenge by the 1:28.2 three-quarters, with $480,000 yearling, seasonal debutante, and race favorite Beautiful Sin on her back.
Through the stretch Millies Possesion showed her talent, closing into a :28.1 last quarter in the muck to win by 1¼ lengths over Beautiful Sin, who was moving very well late; she in turn was a length ahead of Firedbylindie. Now perfect after four career starts, all this year, Millies Possesion is trained by Jim Campbell and pushed her bankroll to $76,184 for Fashion Farms LLC.
A sweep of second choices in the Sire Stakes was completed by the Explosive Matter miss Nomo Volo, who notched her first seasonal tally in 1:56. Trainer/driver Jeff Gregory had Nomo Volo in front at every pole, with fractions of :27.4, :58.3, and 1:27.1 preceding the neck victory over Navarone Hanover, last year’s Stallion Series champion; favorite Swizzle Sticks had to make two moves and wound up fifth. Nomo Volo now has lifetime earnings of $129,937 for Jesmeral Stable. Morning line favorite Sonnet Grace was scratched sick.
In Stallion Series competition, Napolitano was behind the Cantab Hall filly Keystone Abbey, who became the only three-time PaStS winner after leading at every call in 1:57.1 for trainer Chris Beaver, who is also co=owner with Donald Robinson, Martin Yoder, and R.B.H. Ventures Inc. George’s other stakes win came with the Explosive Matter miss Matterlei, who went to the lead in front of the grandstand and went on to a new mark of 1:57.4 for trainer Trond Smedshammer and Purple Haze Stable LLC.
Tyler Buter’s first visit to the Stallion Series winners circle was with the Donato Hanover filly Jezzys Legacy, who sported a second in the Sire Stakes but was lowered a notch by trainer Ray Schnittker and got a popular victory in 1:57.2 for co-owners Schnittker, Little E LLC, Ted Gewertz, and Mary Kinsey Arnold.
Buter came back with another daughter of Donato Hanover, Hanovers Best, playing “pocket rocket” to perfection and then holding off Spring In Paris, who had won her first two Stallion Series starts, in 1:57.1 for trainer Rob Harmon and the partnership of Lester Gelardi Jr., Anthony Passafaro, Seafood Delight Stable, and Harmon Racing Stable Inc.