from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — There had been 18 divisions of preliminaries in the Pennsylvania Stallion Series for 2-year-old pacing fillies — five in the first round at The Meadows, seven in the second round at Harrah’s Philadelphia, and six Monday night (Aug. 8) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono Pocono — and 18 different winners, before the seventh and final third round preliminary stepped onto the track.

And 19 proved the magic number, because that last heat yielded the first repeat winner and the point leader through three rounds.

She’s So Marvelous, a daughter of Delmarvalous-In Solid, won for the second time in Stallion Series action, here equaling the 1:55.2 lifetime mark she first took in winning a Stallion Series event at The Meadows. The filly quarter-moved past Traceuse Hanover after the :27.4 opener, got a cheap :59.2 middle half, then sprinted home in :28.1 to defeat the pocket-sitter by 1-1/4 lengths for driver Montrell Teague, trainer Clyde Francis, and owners George Teague Jr. Inc. and K&R Racing LLC.

The main reason there were no other repeat winners stems largely from the fact that five of the seven winners broke their maidens in triumphing Monday night.

The only other non-maiden winner (and in an overnight, although her only other Stallion action was a nose loss) was the Dragon Again filly Pink Gardenias, who like the other winners established a personal speed badge with her 1:54.1 triumph, quarter-moving and winning for owners Crawford Farms Racing and the trainer/driver pairing of Chris Oakes and George Napolitano Jr.

If any one race looked like it might have a repeat Stallion Series winner it would have been the third, the first stakes contest of the night, with three previous winners going to the gate. So in a field of five, it was the two non-winners who were in the photo for win, as the Western Terror filly Freakonomics, two-three in her previous Stallion Series races, came from last at the half, storming up the Pocono Pike to win by a head over potential pocket rocket Ella Christina, with the time of 1:53.1 lasting through the evening as the fastest winning clocking among the babies. Napolitano also had sulky duty here for trainer Ross Croghan and the ownership of Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Dana Parham.

Sire Somebeachsomwhere sired three of the evening’s stakes winners, including a first-time starter, 19-1 shot V String, who at the half had only a breaker beaten, but rallied for a head tally over 32-1 shot Cruiseninstride in 1:54.4, pacing her own last half in :56.1. Andrew McCarthy drove the undefeated filly for trainer Noel Daley and the partnership of The OK Corral and Dr. Andrew Roberts.

The other winning daughters of Somebeachsomewhere were both trained by Ron Burke. One was the “enigma” of the division, Emily R Hanover, who in her first charted line at Gaitway came a middle half in :53.2 (a 2-year-old on June 6), then further prepped with a :26.3 last quarter qualifier outing — and then once at the races finished back on a sloppy track and followed up with two breaks. But she won here in 1:54.3, last half in :55.4, for driver Keith Kamann (his first sulky victory since September 2013), just a tick behind the winning time posted by stablemate Beach Club, guided by Matt Kakaley, a race earlier. Burke Racing Stable and Weave Bruscemi own shares of both mares; their partners are Jason Melillo and Lawrence Karr on Beach Club, and Michelle Yanek and W.J. Donovan on Emily R Hanover.

The final winner was Love Love Me Do, an aptly-named daughter of Rocknroll Hanover who stole a :59.3 half under the guidance of Marcus Miller, then jetted home in :56 to keep rallying Gemma’s Beach Girl a neck behind in 1:55.3. Trainer Erv Miller’s Ervin Miller Stable Inc. co-owns Love Love Me Do with Tanah Merah Farms LLC and George Golemes.

The fourth and final preliminary for this group is Aug. 29 at The Meadows, before the best come back to The Downs for their $40,000 Stallion Series Championship on Sept. 12.