from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — JL Cruze, 2015’s champion older male trotter in North America, got his 2016 campaign again headed in the right direction with a 1:53 victory in the $25,000 winners over feature Sunday night (July 17) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.

Curtis Salonick photo

JL Cruze was a 1:53 winner in the Sunday feature at Pocono.

John Campbell had his usual seat behind the altered 5-year-old son of Crazed, and he guided him to the lead past the :27.2 opening quarter, then backed off the half to 57.1. From there, they cruised home in :55.4, winning by two lengths over the out-at-every-call Crazshana, completing the Crazed-sired exacta, with Il Sogno Dream another half-length back in third after going first-over.

This season JL Cruze opened his campaign with three straight victories, but he had gone only one for five since then before this race, if you count a second to Rose Run Parker, still 2016’s fastest North American trotter (1:50.4) and a fourth in the Cutler and a fifth in the Lee, in the “only” category.

But perhaps a win at Pocono will mark a turnaround back towards championship form for the Eric Ell-trained trotter, owned by Ken Wood, William Dittmar Jr. and Stephen Iaquinta, and now the winner of $101,430 this year and $761,483 lifetime.

If you like 2-year-old trotting stakes fillies, Pocono is the place to be for you the next two nights with eight divisions of Pennsylvania Stallion Series action topping the bill on Monday, while the next night will feature five divisions of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes racing.