Wilkes-Barre, PA — Voukefalas was used very hard early to cause wild fractions in the $21,000 featured fast-class pace on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 5) at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, but his opposition had even rougher journeys, and Voukefalas had the most late to take a 1:49.4 victory.
Voukefalas, starting from post three, got to the early lead and then refused to give any quarter to Congressional between horses or the three-wide charge of Maximus Miki (who had exactly the same amount of win money as Voukefalas, both being sent away at 3-2 favorites). The quarter was a torrid :25.3; as Maximus Miki continued on to challenge, Congressional took a swervy step or two, bothered Boom N a bit, and was looped. Maximus Miki pressed on to the lead in front of the stands, with Voukefalas keeping the pocket tight and leaving no hole for Congressional going to and past a :53.1 half.
The front-end war continued through the 1:21.1 three-quarters, then Congressional started to back off a little. His fading gave Voukefalas and driver Braxten Boyd room to move outside near headstretch, and the winner went by in mid-stretch to post a 1-3/4-lengths victory; Boom, who stayed close to the battlers despite the early misfortune, came up the Pocono Pike and was able to neck out Maximus Milki for the deuce. For Voukefalas, a 6-year-old son of Lazarus N who seems to have been in top-tier competition a long time, the win was only the 14th in his career, but he’s made his starts count, with earnings of $1,107,915 for trainer Michael Russo and owner Michael Pagones.
The $18,500 co-featured fast class pace saw the So Surreal gelding Splash Brother post his third straight wire-to-wire victory, handling another class rise in 1:50 to complete a fast-class “sweep” for Braxten Boyd. Trainer Ray Schnittker trains the winner of $938,091, and he co-owns him with Nolamura Racing LLC, Steven Arnold, and Tammy Flannery.
There were a pair of $17,500 contests for developing horses, one on each gait. The Walner gelding Night Phantom carried his speed to the wire in the trotting event, holding on by a neck over potential pocket rocket Onemore Volo in 1:54. Anthony Napolitano guided the winner for trainer Lily Cimino for owner Jaypaul Hoover.
On the pace, the Huntsville gelding Imgoingtojackson showed no signs of being on the sidelines since February, making the lead past the quarter, dealing with the persistent bid of place horse Papis Pistol, and still having enough to draw clear over the last quarter while stopping the timer in 1:51.4. The Deborah Daguet trainee, owned by Daguet Racing LLC and Mardon Stables, was driven by Ridge Warren to the 18-1 upset.
That was not the biggest price of the day, however; that distinction goes to Gold Glove Hanover at $91.60, who was one of four wins on the day for Boyd. A driving double on the card came from Boyd’s fellow “BB,” Brett Beckwith.
Total purses of $1.4 million will be on the line when racing returns to Pocono on Monday (Sept. 7) at 1 p.m., headed by four $300,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships for two-year-olds. The “marquee event” will be the widely-anticipated “showdown” between the two 5-for-5 pacing colts – Shalom Hanover (post one) and Starstruck Dreamer (post eight).
Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.