Wilkes-Barre, PA – Louies Girl N made her 2026 debut on Monday (March 16) afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, and she rallied nicely to win the $25,000 fast-class distaff pacing headliner in 1:54.2 on a day with a strong stretch headwind and a “sloppy” surface rating for the feature races.
Team Cushing saw their Turn The Page N win the last two Pocono female features and Sweet Hayley Jane A take last week’s co-feature for the distaffs; this week they tried “Hayley” in the top class. Despite 42-1 odds, the Aussie-bred went right to the lead in :27, got a big breather into the strong wind while reaching the half in :58.1, and then opened up on the field to hit the three-quarters in 1:25.4. Jason Bartlett moved Louies Girl N from third down the back to a vacant pocket, came out after the leader in the lane, and wore down the game pacesetter by three quarters of a length.
Trained by Pocono meet leader Per Engblom for Peaceful Acre Farm, Louies Girl N posted her eighth straight victory and remained unbeaten since last May 8. On that day, she won her last Kiwi start, shipped Stateside and rose through the ranks with six straight victories at Yonkers last fall, then was ready for success in her seasonal bow. She does not look like she would be out of place against the very best of this continent’s FFA female sidewheelers.
Pocono’s Monday co-feature was a $17,500 event also for distaff pacers, and Perfidious Crown became one of the few speed horses to hold up on the day, parked to the three-eighths to gain command and then still able to rattle off a :55.1 back half to be a handy winner in 1:53.3. The daughter of Tall Dark Stranger was driven by Anibal Borjas for trainer Tony Alagna, whose Alagna Racing LLC co-owns the two-time winner in five seasonal starts with Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Big Als Stables.
Braxten Boyd, who won USHWA’s Rising Star Award last year, topped the local drivers on the day with three successes; Simon Allard and Anthony Napolitano won twice each.
The racing week concludes at Pocono on Tuesday (March 17) with a 1 p.m. card: the feature is a $15,500 event for on-the-rise trotters, and the day’s racing could also serve as a showcase for some Weiss Series prospects, with that annual Pocono series for developing three-year-olds starting Saturday, April 4. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.