Wilkes-Barre, PA – Driver Andrew McCarthy and trainer Brett Pelling combined to take the two featured paces for fillies and mares on Monday (May 25) afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania – and it will be interesting to see which one keeps a higher profile in the weeks to come.
The Always A Virgin mare Walkin On Sunshine paced to a 1:51.1 victory in the $27,500 featured fast-class handicap pace. McCarthy had the winner three-wide early en route to command by the :26.2 quarter, continuing on with middle fractions of :54 and 1:21.4. Those numbers would be enough to bottom out many a field, but the opposition came at her in waves nearing the wire – Stayingwiththewind from the first-over path, and Looklikediamonds A up the Pocono Pike.
Walkin On Sunshine made her lead stand, defeating Stayingwiththewind by a neck (10 of the 13 races at Pocono on Monday were decided by a half-length or less), with Looklikediamonds A just another neck back from taking it all. Maynard Miller, Daniel Lehman, and Michael Yoder own the fast mare.
Walkin On Sunshine has already earned into six figures this year, her fourth season in a row of accomplishing that feat, with no signs of letting up soon, and her lifetime earnings are at $718,862. That’s almost ten times the career bankroll of the winner of the $17,500 co-feature, the Bettor’s Wish filly Miss Jum Jabber – but you should not underestimate this filly’s potential for making headlines, even with only $75,463 amassed so far.
Owned by Pelling’s Pelling Racing LLC, Miss Jum Jabber has now won six straight starts, with Monday’s win her fastest ever at 1:50.1. That’s a great time, but the frightening thing about this sophomore is her extreme speed in the last half and the last quarter, at least the way she has been raced. Monday Miss Jum Jabber got away in the pocket behind Gigglingonthebeach, a sophomore stakes winner who took a mark of 1:50 at Pocono last year, and when that mare got pokey early fractions of :28 and :56.3, she looked like she might be tough to catch given the talent she had showed and the fact it was a sophomore chasing her.
But Miss Jum Jabber again said, “No problem,” staying in position while following the leader through a :27 third split to a 1:23.3 three-quarters, then coming out on the turn to challenge. Despite her “characteristic” coming off the last turn lean-in, Miss Jum Jabber could fashion a :26.2 last quarter – on a 5/8-mile track, in her seventh lifetime start – to overhaul the talented pacesetter by a half-length. The question now is whether Miss Jum Jabber gains more experience (she still has two more wins to go before winning out of this class!), or whether she has some stakes racing to showcase her quickstep, which given her form should find herself giving a very solid accounting of her talent.
In all Andrew McCarthy drove four winners on the Monday Pocono card; the brothers Napolitano, Anthony and George Jr., each came home first twice, as did pupils of Pelling and Ron Burke.
Tuesday’s (May 26) feature at Pocono is the $35,000 Championship of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series, with Pisces Rising looking for a series sweep after taking all three preliminary starts; a major obstacle will be his beginning from the outside post eight. After that Pocono adds Sunday racing starting at 5 p.m. to its basic Saturday-Monday-Tuesday 1 p.m. schedule, with the Sunday sessions continuing for nine weeks. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.