Wilkes-Barre, PA – Aggiornamento, which is the Italian word for “modernization,” updated his career statistics to five wins in six races with a hard-fought 1:55 victory in the Monday (Aug. 1)afternoon feature at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.

Driver Tom Jackson, after the race just four wins away from a career total of 5,000, was able to sit third with the three-year-old Nuncio gelding until the five-eighths, while By The Book took the field to the quarter in :28 and then yielded to Abruzzo before the :56.4 half. Aggiornamento grinded up to the pacesetter nearing the 1:25.4 three-quarters and battled him the rest of the way, winning by half a length.

Aggiornamento went by in the last steps to capture the Monday feature at Pocono. Curtis Salonick photo.

Aggiornamento was undefeated in four starts at two, including a victory in the Kentucky stakes program. In his first start of 2022, he made a break at the start but rallied for a dead-heat for third; this victory reinforces that the Fred Grant trainee, owned by Russell Williams, could be one to watch in the next few weeks.

Jackson later got win #4997 in dramatic fashion, rallying the 1-5 favorite Magical Journey from last after an early miscue to win bravely in 1:57.1. Tom tied with Simon Allard and Anthony Napolitano as posting driving doubles.

The racing week concludes Tuesday (Aug. 2) at The Downs with a 1:30 card; program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. Preparations are already well underway for Saturday, August 20’s $2 million Sun Stakes Saturday, featuring rich stakes contests for all four of the three-year-old divisions, and a $100,000 Invitational on each gait.