Wilkes-Barre, PA – The Always A Virgin mare Walkin On Sunshine provided sunshine on a cloudy day for chalk players Monday (Aug. 4) afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, holding off waves of stretch challengers to capture the $25,000 distaff fast-class pacing feature in 1:50.
Jack Pelling settled the heavy favorite in third early behind a :26.3 quarter, then was on the move and gained the lead well before the :54.4 half. The challengers started moving down the backstretch and kept coming past the 1:22.4 three quarters, with the game pacesetter fending off each one; the one that wound up closest to her at the wire, 45-1 shot Huntress, closed well but missed by a half length.
Walkin On Sunshine has compiled an enviable record for trainer Brett Pelling and owners Maynard Miller, Daniel Lehman, and Michael Yoder: this year she has won twelve of seventeen starts, and is 27-for-66 lifetime. Her earnings are $283,538 for the year and $594,352 in her career.
Complementing the mares feature were a pair of races for up-and-coming horses, one on each gait.
The $15,500 pace was a microcosm of the wild day of racing at The Downs. Dreamboat Hanover forced No Tresspassing (correct spelling of horse’s name) to go a :25.2 quarter to make the top, with that one carrying on to fractions of :53 and 1:21.1 as the outer tiers could make no headway. That gave room for both Dreamboat Hanover to move outside and third-in TH Colby to come up the Pocono Pike; Dreamboat Hanover failed to gain on No Tresspassing, but TH Colby did get a short lead in midstretch – only to see No Tresspassing fight back to cross the wire first by a nose in a 1:49.1 mile.
But there’s more to the story. Turning for home No Tresspassing did trespass into the Pocono Pike and take early space away from TH Colby, and thus was placed behind that rival. On a day of longshots, he was the biggest at $71.40, and the Papi Rob Hanover gelding, according to the rules, also gets credit for the 1:49.1 as a mark. Simon Allard was the driver of TH Colby for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Phil Collura, Lawrence Karr, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby.
In a $15,000 trot, the Walner colt Assiduous assiduously maintained the pocket behind a speed battle, then went to the Pocono Pike and won in 1:57, three parts of a length to the good of Stevie Ray. Trainer Jim Pantaleano also handled the driving for Elite Harness Racing LLC.
Anthony Napolitano had four wins on the day (and lost a fifth with No Tresspassing); Jim Pantaleano guided three winners, including two he trained (the only conditioner to double); Jack Pelling had a pair; and Simon Allard bookended the card by being placed up with TH Colby.
The racing week at Pocono concludes with a Tuesday (Aug. 5) 1 p.m. card, with a carryover into the Pick 5 wager beginning in race five and also a carryover into the last race High 5 wager. Right around the corner, on Saturday, August 16, is Pocono’s biggest card of the year, the $2M+ Sun Stakes Saturday card with rich features for three-year-olds and invitational horses (to be drawn next Monday (Aug. 11).
Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.