from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The winning beat went on for JL Cruze as he captured the $30,000 championship of the Bobby Weiss Series for trotting males in 1:52.4 Tuesday night (April 21) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, while in the $30,000 pacing female championship, Donttellruss led a 1-2-3 finish for the Burke Stable with a 1:52.1 triumph.

JL Cruze won for the seventh straight time, taking the Weiss final in a time of 1:52.4.

It may not exactly have been the maximum win in “cruze control” — it looked like John Campbell had to flick the whip three times at him in the lane — but the result was the same: JL Cruze in the winner’s circle, for the 11th time in 13 starts this year and for the seventh straight time, after a 1:52.4 triumph in the Weiss finale for male trotters.

Campbell bided his time early with the Crazed gelding, then went up to get the lead just past the quarter from Opulent Yankee, with splits of :27.4, :57 and 1:25.1.

Opulent Yankee gave his nemesis a good threat in the Pocono Pike stretch, appearing to get within a half-length, but JL Cruze still had more and completed the last panel in :27.3 for a length victory.

Math fans will note that tossing out the second stanza gives you 1:23.3 speed for JL Cruze in the other quarters; in another numbers note, the winner commanded more than $19,000 in a $21,700 show pool.

Eric Ell, the skipper of one of the East Coast’s hottest barns right now, trains JL Cruze, who will certainly be needing to take a step up in class soon, if not now, for owners Ken Wood, Bill Dittmar Jr. and Stephen Iaquinta.

And spare a thought for the gallant Opulent Yankee, from the Miller Team Orange Crush. His seasonal record now is 13-5-8-0, and you get exactly zero points for guessing which horse finished in front of him all eight times. At least he has the satisfaction of knowing he did hang JL Cruze’s two 2015 defeats on him.

Far inside, far outside, down the middle of the track — the Ron Burke four-horse stable entry came at them from every angle, taking down the 1-2-3 spots in the Weiss championship for female pacers, with Donttellruss taking the biggest part of the money as a 1:52.3 pocket rocket.

Curtis Salonick photos

Donttellruss led a 1-2-3 finish for trainer Ron Burke in the Weiss final for female pacers.

With $32,500 of a $34,000 show pool riding on the 1-5 quartet, only one of them left the gate hard — Donttellruss, winner of her last two starts in the Weiss — and she took the lead from Hollyrocker just at the :26.2 quarter. The Beach Nextdoor, sent off at 2-1 despite three straight series wins, had tucked fourth early after starting from post eight, then was hustled to the lead well before the :55.3 half.

But The Beach Nextdoor would find the Burke entry making life a “beach” for her soon afterwards, with Life Is A Beach and Allthatjazz De Vie — each series winners — coming first- and second-over respectively (and remember, Donttellruss was still in the pocket) past the 1:23.2 three-quarter pole.

In the stretch, driver Andrew McCarthy took Donttellruss to the Pocono Pike, took the lead from the game but overwhelmed The Beach Nextdoor, and then held off Caviart Shelly. She was the fourth Burke trainee and the only one not a prelim winner, the one who was fourth-over and eighth at the three-quarter pole and five-wide at the head of the stretch, the one who closed with a furious rally to miss by only a head. Life Is A Beach was just another neck back in third.

Donttellruss is a daughter of Panspacificflight co-owned by Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, Lawrence Karr and Frank Baldachino. She earned $31,800 in Weiss competition, with the Burke foursome totaling $82,200 in this division alone.

One final note: the only non-1-2-3 Burke horse, Allthatjazz De Vie, finished sixth, though beaten only 2-1/4 lengths. This was important wagering information, as in addition to show wagering, Pocono also allowed exacta, trifecta and superfecta betting. Thus the exacta was the 1-2-3 entry and fourth-place Crescent City; the trifecta added fifth-place The Beach Nextdoor; and for the superfecta, you had to go all the way down to seventh, Hideaway Beach, to determine the official order.

And if all that isn’t enough for mountain sulky fans to digest, the $30,000 Weiss championship for trotting females is Wednesday night, and on Saturday, the world’s richest harness horse, Foiled Again, returns to the scene of his 2013 Breeders Crown triumph, as the $6 million horse ($6,923,781) goes in the winners over pace and he drew the rail.