Wilkes-Barre, PA — Daiquiri Hanover had little trouble handling his opponents in 1:53.2 in the $15,000 featured trot Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 19) at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania.
The $251,646-winning son of Bar Hopping laid just off a three-way battle during a :28.1 quarter, then moved frontward before the finish line the first time and made the lead before the :57 half. Daiquiri Hanover remained in control through 1:25.2 speed to the three-quarters, and he extended his dominance by trotting his last quarter in :28 and winning by 5-3/4 lengths. The Tony Alagna trainee, owned by Adam Hawthorne, Jade Hadfield and Itzak Madae, was driven by Pocono’s leading driver, Tyler Buter.
A $12,500 fast-class trot went to the Italian-bred Demone Deiventi IT, an altered son of Mago D’Amore who went to the lead at the quarter and then held off a late comeback attempt by the horse he had passed early in the mile, Happy Chopper, to win by a head in 1:53.3. Simon Allard drove for trainer Hunter Oakes and Flying A Racing Stable.
The drivers of the feature winners, Allard and Buter, tied for the day’s honors with three victories.
Anthony Napolitano is the third-leading driver at Pocono, so it is a bit surprising that he has driven the last three winners to return mutuels of at least $50 at the northeast Pennsylvania track, and he leads all horsepeople for the year in this category with eight. After guiding home such long shots in consecutive races a week ago Saturday, Napolitano added to his total by going wire-to-wire with P L Quinella, who paid $81.60, in Tuesday’s 12th race.
Racing at Pocono resumes on Saturday (Aug. 23) with a 1 p.m. card that will feature a carryover of $1,108.97 into the first-race superfecta. The card scheduled for Sunday, (Aug. 24) has been canceled. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.