from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — The Mach Three mare Monica Gallagher, who was away from the races for three months in the spring and early summer, has worked her way back to top form, as she showed on Tuesday (Sept. 25) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono by winning the $17,500 featured distaff pace, her first visit to Victory Lane since April 26.

Curtis Salonick photo

Monica Gallagher was a 1:51.3 winner in the Pocono feature.

Matt Kakaley got Monica Gallagher away quickly, making the lead after the quick :26.2 opener on a “good” track, then yielded to race favorite Skippin By near the :55.2 half to sit a pocket journey. Truth And Liberty, second-over past the 1:22.4 three-quarter pole, made it a three-horse chase to the finish, with Monica Gallagher having the most late to win in 1:51.3 by a head, with the same margin separating Truth And Liberty in second and Skippin By in third.

Monica Gallagher has shown herself to be usually right around the big money in her brief career. In 16 starts this year she has a 7-5-0 record, and in double the starts lifetime she has a 12-9-3 scorecard, good for $124,631. Ron Burke conditions the 4-year-old for Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi.

Earlier, some confusion around the far turn led to a longshot bonanza. The 3-1 third choice Lounatic pulled the pocket from behind pacesetting Michelle’s Pride late in the backstretch, but then went erratically around the far turn, first squeezing Actress Hanover inside, then, while trying to correct, bearing out into the path of the second- and third-over, Linda Lace Hanover (8-5 favorite) and Under The Hood (9-5) respectively, shoving them wide and effectively taking them out of contention.

Actress Hanover, at 69-1, went up into the pocket, then to the Pocono Pike and charged to the lead, returning a $140.20 win mutuel. Pacesetting Michelle’s Pride was 42-1, and she was just edged for second by an unaffected horse, 10-1 Typhoon, resulting in $2 equivalent gimmick payoffs of $1,219.20 for the 4-7 exacta, $2,111.40 for a 4-7-All trifecta, and a 4-7-All-All superfecta of $18,281.60 on which there were two fortunate 10-cent ticketholders.