Wilkes-Barre, PA — Driver Tyler Buter, who won the 2025 dash-winning championship at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, is again ahead so far in the 2026 meet — at least partially because he can get his horses to give the last bit of energy and desire they have to take the victory. Buter showed this ability again when, for the second day in a row, he won the Pocono feature by a nose, doing so with Captain Vodka in Tuesday’s (March 24) $15,500 trotting headliner.
Buter left from the outside post 8 with the 3-year-old Captain Corey gelding and tucked in fourth early before advancing uncovered up the backstretch and getting the lead on the far turn. Dusty Dungarees had vacated the pocket to follow Captain Vodka, and the two battled the length of the stretch, with the wheels of Dusty Dungarees appearing to be slightly ahead at one point past mid-stretch. But Captain Vodka fought on and held the slimmest margin tripping the photo finish beam, lowering his mark to 1:55.2 while staying unbeaten in two seasonal starts for trainer Robert Baggitt Jr., who also shares ownership with Christine Baggitt and J L Sadowsky LLC.
Captain Vodka is eligible for the Bobby Weiss Series, Pocono’s annual showcase for developing 3-year-olds of all classifications which Saturday, April 4. Three other horses, all males, also stamped themselves as horses to watch on the Tuesday card: male trotters Confident Volo, who lowered his mark to 1:55.2 in his seasonal debut, and Nose Jammer, who now has 10 career wins entering the series after reducing his mark to 1:57.1; and pacing gelding Sounds So Sweet, who broke his maiden in 1:54.2.
Tyler Buter led all drivers with three wins on the card, while horses trained by Todd Buter also found their way home first on three occasions. Simon Allard, Matt Kakaley and George Napolitano Jr. all notched driving doubles.
Racing at Pocono Downs resumes on Saturday (March 28) with a 1 p.m. card offering 14 races. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.