Wilkes-Barre, PA — The Andover Hall gelding Choco Charlie, after three second-place finishes and three thirds in his last six starts, found a great time to regain his winning ways, taking the $20,000 Winter Is Coming Trotting Series final on Tuesday (Nov. 18) at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
George Napolitano Jr., who tied with meet leader Tyler Buter by notching three driving victories on the day, moved the Jill Roland trainee, owned by Bernard O’Brien, first-over nearing turn two and went after pacesetting favorite Tuis Angel, a preliminary winner last week who controlled the stick with two moves after early fractions of :28 and :58.3. Choco Charlie, second then third in his series prelims, steadily advanced on the leader up the backstretch and went right up to the pacesetter just after the 1:27.3 three-quarters, with One After Nine, the only doubler in the series prelims, sitting well-placed in the two-hole.
Going around the final bend, however, One After Nine fumbled and bothered half of the rest of the field, leaving the big battle to the first-over and the leader, and Choco Charlie proved the stronger of the two in the drive to the wire, winning in 1:56.1 with his own back half in :56.4.
The $16,000 co-feature trot also went to a first-over horse on a day when the speed did not hold up well, as the sophomore Trixton gelding Tequila Talking AS pulled away after a grinding challenge to stop the clock in 1:56.4. Anette Lorentzon conditions the winner for ACL Stuteri AB.
Saturday’s (Nov. 22) 1 p.m. card will be the final program of the season at Pocono, and in addition to excellent racing with up-and-coming horses in the featured spots, there will be a smorgasbord of excellent wagering opportunities. The moneymaking opportunities will start in the first race, where there will be a carryover into the day’s initial Pick-4 wager.
Then, because it is the last card of the season, there can be no carryovers at day’s end, so the five bets that usually feature the carryover possibility are mandatory payouts on Saturday. They are the Pick-5 (races 5-9), Pick-3 (races 9-11), Pick-4 (races 10-13), superfecta (race 13), and High-5 (race 14).
Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.