Wilkes-Barre, PA — The front end proved particularly unfriendly on Tuesday afternoon (March 18) at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania despite the temperature climbing from 48 degrees to 60 degrees during the 16-race program.
In a featured $11,000 overnight trot, One After Nine made the early lead and forced a tuck, but he then let two horses go in the second stanza. Stalking from third, the victorious Andover Hall gelding moved out to challenge near the top of the stretch and, in a three-horse photo, beat out Cassius Hanover and Optrix, respectively, in 1:55 for driver Jim Pantaleano, trainer Laura Angle, and owners Howard and Joshua Kaufman.
There were 11 $9,000 second-round divisions of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for horses valued at $12,500 this week, and two of them added a second series tally to their wins last week. The fastest Game Of Claims winner this week, Captain Terminator, won in 1:52.4 for driver Jim Marohn Jr. The other doubler, Stick With Cramer, pulled driver Braxten Boyd to one of his three series wins, here in 1:53.2.
Boyd also swept the early double, first winning with series debutante Split Pot in 1:54.4 and then coming right back with Texas Miki for a 1:54.1 victory.
George Napolitano Jr. also notched three driving wins on the day, with two coming in the Game Of Claims: with Southwind Dredge, claimed while finishing second in the first round and paying immediate dividends on the investment in 1:53.3, and with Cards A Flyin, who overcame a hard journey before stopping the timer in 1:54.1.
Cards A Flyin and Split Pot were joined as winners by four other first-time competitors in the series, many dropping down from higher claiming levels and finding the company more to their liking. The victorious first-time starters in this company were The Cruz (Matt Kakaley) in 1:53.3, Yonkers invader Forever Fav (Jim Pantaleano) in 1:53, and a pair of winners for driver Tyler Buter: Snap Test in 1:54 and Colonel Bayama in 1:53.2.
Rounding out the 11 series winners was Hashtag Money, who tired in the first GOC round but got the job done Tuesday in 1:54 for driver Simon Allard while paying the most of all the series winners, $35.60.
The next card of racing at Pocono is on Saturday (March 22) at 1 p.m., with carryovers galore: $1,943.63 in the first superfecta of the card; $1,311 in the Pick-5, comprising races 5-9; and $2,527.45 in the Hi-5, offered in the finale. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.