Wilkes-Barre, PA – Josias Santos, a 48-year-old native of Brazil, must be thinking, “Harness racing – what an easy game. Where has it been all my life?”
Santos, in his first charted line of any kind ever, drove Long Shot Buckets from post four in the first qualifier at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Wednesday morning (April 29); he was wearing the colors of Simon Allard, who coincidentally was driving a horse starting just inside Santos.
Santos sent his horse to the lead, yielded to pacing rival Boots to sit in the pocket, then came again to reclaim the lead down the backstretch. Boots came back a little late, but Long Shot Buckets and Santos fended him off under mild urging by three-quarters of a length in 1:54.3, giving the rookie quite a memorable debut. Deborah Daguet trains Long Shot Buckets for G.R.J. Partners LLC.
The fact that Santos is a native of Brazil is also interesting: Santos is the Brazilian football (soccer) club that the most famous footballer ever – Pele – played for in the Brazilian league, and they were the world champion club twice in Pele’s heyday. This Santos followed in the tradition in his debut.
Pocono’s leading driver in 2025 and so far in 2026, Tyler Buter, won three times during the morning session.
Fastest pacer was Congressional, who won in 1:53 for driver Brad Irvine and trainer Laura Shock; quickest trotter was Sainthood (Buter) in 1:56.2. And there was even a dead-heat in the last qualifier between Ideal Beauty Queen (Braxten Boyd) and Threecurtaincalls (Allard, not Josias Santos – we looked — and trained by Daguet) in 1:54.4.
Pocono’s qualifiers can be viewed at www.phha.org.