by James Beviglia for Pocono Downs

Besmo made amends for a near-miss 2nd place finish in the 2007 Ten Grand pace final by winning this year’s final on Saturday afternoon at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. The race carried a purse of $28,400.

Besmo, driven and trained by Matt Romano was able to grind down fellow 9-5 shot and slight favorite P H Breakaway on the outside, prevailing by a length in a career-best time of 1:53. Hogan Highlight finished 2nd with P H Breakaway settling for 3rd.

Besmo, a 9-year-old gelding sired by Bullvon’s Dream, won for the 46th time in his career and 6th time in 2008, pushing his career earnings over $176,000. He is owned by C&F Associates of Hillsdale, NJ.

In other action at Pocono on Saturday, Total Truth put on a dominating performance in winning an Open Handicap purse which carried a purse of $22,000. The 5-year-old stallion, trained by George Teague Jr. and driven by Tim Tetrick, led most of the way for his first win of the year in 1:50:4. The win pushed his career earnings to just shy of $1.9 million.