Wilkes-Barre, PA — Crazy Cute easily won the $17,500 distaff pacing feature on Sunday (July 3) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono — and she may have finished with some more left in the tank.

The 6-5 favorite, a daughter of Art Major who has now earned $304,805, left three-wide but backed off when seeing that A Better Game and Nuttinbuthebest both left to her inside. Nuttinbuthebest took the lead near a :26.2 quarter, then posted middle splits of :55.2 and 1:23 with Crazy Cute making a big move towards the front nearing the final turn. Coming off the bend, Crazy Cute surged powerfully and quickly drew away, finishing under a George Napolitano Jr. hold and stopping the timer in 1:51.1. Trainer Gilbert Garcia-Herrera owns the winner of two straight in partnership with Barbara Arnstine.

Crazy Cute surged to a decisive victory in Sunday’s featured distaff pace at Pocono. Curtis Salonick photo.

The American Harness Drivers Club made its way to Pocono on Sunday to contest two $11,000 trots. Both races were won by AHDC veteran Tony Ciuffetelli, who brought a pair of sharp horses with him from Saratoga en route to victory.

In the featured handicap division, Ciuffetelli looked to tuck second with Gary Levine’s Magic MVP near the quarter when the hole was shut on him, and the son of My MVP was forced to press on for command. Despite late pressure coming from every direction, Magic MVP held on for a 1:58 victory over the 15-year-old favored TSM Photo Bugger, three-wide for close to three-eighths of the mile, by a nose. Chief Justice threaded between horses to miss the big prize by a head in finishing third.

The pace was much less contested in the other AHDC division, with Ciuffetelli popping out of the pocket with The Big Muscle nearing three-quarters and going on to defeat favorite Worldsstonecold AS by three-quarters of a length in 1:59.3. Ciuffetelli owns and trains the successful Muscle Mass gelding.

The major fireworks at Pocono on Monday (July 4) will be provided by the first local stakes action for 2-year-olds this year, as two $35,000 divisions of the Pennsylvania All-Stars will be conducted for rookie trotting colts. The races begin at 1:30 p.m.; program pages are available on the PHHA website.