Wilkes-Barre, PA — Stakes youngsters were gathered at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Sun on Saturday afternoon, as $211,700 was up for grab in two John Simpson Sr. Stakes, two divisions of the Razzle Hanover, for freshman pacing females, and two sections of the Ayres, for sophomore trotting males. In both groups, the only favorite to win in the divisions turned in the group’s fastest mile.
The Stay Hungry-Pleasant Roll filly Honey Roll has certainly been a roll recently, as she followed up on a victory in her Pennsylvania Fair Sire Stakes Championship with a Simpson victory on a windy day that seemed like the coldest at the mountain track in months. Honey Roll had the largest winning margin in her Fair Championships (11 lengths), and she was most clear in the Simpson as well, with a 2-3/4-length victory in 1:54.1 for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Steve Cook, and Bay Pond Racing Stable. Honey Roll now has nine wins in her freshman campaign, the last six consecutively.
Gift Of Faith broke her maiden in her last start, and the Captaintreacherous-Cannae Cammie miss got her second straight success with a length victory in 1:55. Jack Pelling also went to the lead and won nicely for trainer-father Brett Pelling and the ownership of David McDuffee, Paul Bordogna, and Melvin Hartman.
Among the Ayres trotters, only the Chapter Seven colt Seven Grand lived up to the crowd’s confidence, tucking in third early for driver Brian Sears, re-entering the fray nearing the three quarters, and able to keep a length margin at the finish. Having previously campaigned primarily on New York half-mile tracks, Seven Grand lowered his mark to 1:54 for trainer Åke Svanstedt, who is also a co-owner with Little E LLC, Soderberg Bloodstock, and Van Camp Trotting Corporation.
The Svanstedt shed row sent out a second winner in the Captain Corey gelding Mr Penner, who controlled a reasonable pace and had a length margin at the end of his 1:54.4 mile. Simon Allard was in the sulky for owners Åke Svanstedt Inc., Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Little E LLC.
The hot sire Captain Corey had another of his progeny win, with the gelding Captain Vodka digging in nicely for a win by a half length, the shortest margin of all the stakes races, in 1:54.2. Ridge Warren had the drive for trainer Robert Baggitt Jr. who is also co-owner with Christine Baggitt and J L Sadowsky LLC.
The other Ayres division saw the Bar Hopping gelding Highball Hanover become the first horse to pay over $50 to win twice at this meet but look nothing like a long shot, going first-over after tucking then still with the power to win by 1-1/4 lengths. Jordan Stratton handled the trotter in the 1:54.2 victory for Sjoblom Racing & M Dolan, Joe Sbrocco & JAF Racing LLC, Caviart Farms, and P C Wellwood Enterprises. The triumph also put trainer Noel Daley on top of the “Pocono Bomber Brigade” with his third $50 or longer win price of the year.
In the $27,500 fast-class pace, the Bettor’s Delight gelding Always A Thrill was last to the top and first to the wire, pacing in 1:50 despite the less-than-ideal conditions in winning by a half length. Matt Kakaley drove the Travis Alexander trainee for owner Eric Prevost.
Matt Kakaley drove four winners on the card to be No. 1 in the sulky brigade; Ridge Warren had two visits to the winne’rs circle. Also winning twice, on the training side, were Svanstedt and Travis Alexander.
Racing returns to Pocono on Monday (Oct. 19) at 1 p.m., with a single $84,700 division of the Simpson Stake for 2-year-old pacing colts, the Bret Hanover; there are also several high-class overnight trots on the card. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.