Wilkes-Barre, PA — Claiming pacers had the Sunday (July 27) night spotlight at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, with one longtime “fan: of summer racing at the mountain oval accounting for the feature.
The eleven-year-old Bettor’s Delight gelding Santafe’s Coach (Simon Allard) worked out a perfect pocket trip for Allard in the top-level $16,000 handicap feature, then came up the Pocono Pike to record a neck victory in 1:51 for trainer Darren Taneyhill and owner Sam Dali., The career winner of $462,456 was a winner of an elimination of the Hempt Pace at Pocono way back in 2017.
Santafe’s Coach gets to stay with his connections, but the winners of the three $15,000 co-features for claimers priced just below the feature field all changed hands via the claiming box. The most impressive of this trio was Bullville Stephano (Napolitano Jr.), who came identical back quarters of :26.4 to lower his mark to 1:48.3 under the handling of George Napolitano Jr., who swept the sub features and recorded ten winners over the Friday-Saturday-Sunday period between here and Philly. The victorious son of Artiscape is now three-for-three in two stints for owner Todd’s Auto and trainer Lou Pena, but in his next start he will be racing for new ownership.
The other two winners in the subfeatures were Literl Lad Hanover in 1:51 and Sun Of A Show in 1:51.1. Their trainer on Sunday, Dean Eckley, will now have two spaces in his shedrow to fill after both were claimed; in all, seven horses changed hands for a total of $158,000.
Racing continues at Pocono with cards on Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.