Wilkes-Barre, PA — In Tuesday’s (Aug. 11) sixth race at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, a trotter named Bijou Blue Chip made her career debut from post 8, and she was dismissed at 92-1, the longest odds in the race. Bijou Blue Chip was in the second half of her field most of the race but mounted a winning rally in her bow to return a $186.40 win payoff, the highest recorded at Pocono in nearly five years.
Bijou Blue Chip was actually a feature race winner at Pocono, as the card headlined four $16,000 contests for two-year-olds. The Back Of The Neck-Read The Book trotting filly clocked a maiden time of 1:57.2 for driver Lauren Tritton and trainer Annie Stoebe, the latter co-owner with Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc. and R. Lynn Curry. The race for her male counterparts was won by the Walner-Molto Bene gelding Celebrity Tequila, with whom driver Brian Sears set a slow pace then maintained the advantage for a maiden mark of 2:00 for Flying A Racing Stable, Celebrity Farms, and trainer Hunter Oakes’s H O Racing Inc.
This was the third consecutive card at the mountain oval where a $100+ long shot blew out the tote board (four for eastern Pennsylvania, if you count the $107 winner at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday). That kind of “triple” has not been matched in the last 10 years at Pocono. A total of 10 carryover pools were generated by the massive overthrow of the form book during the three-day week.
There were also two cuts for pacing fillies, both bringing maiden victories. The Perfect Sting-Philly Hanover distaff Philly’s Sting got the nod in a 1:55.4 decision for driver Ridge Warren, trainer Juan Cano, and Hot Lead Farm, while the Stay Hungry-Chant Down Babylon filly Kinda Girl U Like went into grinding mode to win in 1:56 for Anthony Napolitano and trainer Scott DiDomenico, whose Triple D Stables Inc. owns the baby.
Racing at Pocono resumes on Saturday (Aug. 15) at 1 p.m., with a $21,000 fast-class pace the top event of the day. A week from this Saturday, Aug. 22, Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania will host North America’s top 3-year-olds and free-for-allers in the $2.3 million Sun Stakes Saturday card, with a first post of 2:30 p.m. The fields for Sun Stakes Saturday will be drawn the morning of Monday, Aug. 17. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.