Wilkes-Barre, PA – Strutsville became the only 3-year-old pacing filly to win all three of her preliminary legs of her Bobby Weiss Series grouping after she won her $20,000 division in 1:54 on a Saturday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania that saw the track surface rerated several times due to brief alterations in the weather before the day cleared.
In her two earlier wins, Strutsville had led at every pole; here she let TH Summer Lovin grab the top before the quick :26.4 quarter (fast track but still seeming a couple of ticks below prime) before going to the lead and getting a :56.2 rest to the half.
The price of pacing went up during the dash to the three-quarters in 1:24 as the 25-1 uncovered Cervi actually poked a nose ahead into the far turn, but Strutsville kept her gameness despite Cervi to her right the whole way and a slow-to-clear Albright (also previously two-for-two in the Weiss) narrowing the advantage with every step to her left, getting home a head ahead of Cervi and another head ahead of Albright.
Ridge Warren guided the winning daughter of Huntsville as she ran her record to three-for-four in 2025 and six-for-10 lifetime for trainer Ron Coyne Jr. and owners Nancy Retzlaff and Douglas Stout.
Sweet Odds also had the chance to have won three Weiss prelims before the May 5 $50,000 final, but after going along on the lead at a good clip over a “good” surface, she couldn’t sustain, with the pocket sitting Lazarus N filly Shesgotthejack equaling her mark of 1:54.2 while defeating 39-1 shot Jordanna Hanover, last at the three-quarters, by half a length for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Jacob Hartline, and Anatolia Racing LLC.
The filly who could well be favored in the Weiss final is the Papi Rob Hanover distaff Allegra Hanover. First in her series bow and then missing just a nose to Strutsville after a very rough trip last week, Allegra Hanover came first-up in her Weiss division and showed :28 last quarter finishing speed to win handily in 1:52.1 (fast track) for driver Dexter Dunn, trainer Gareth Dowse, and owners Martin Valentic, T G Stable LLC, and Bill Boyce.
The In The Arsenal filly Defamation took her second straight victory in the Weiss with a two-move victory in a lifetime best 1:53.1 with the track rated “sloppy.” Tim Tetrick had the driving assignment for trainer Jeffrey Smith and owners Joseph and Steven Williams.
Pocono also carded a $25,000 pace for fast-class horses, which saw the Bettor’s Delight gelding Always A Thrill return to Pocono and yield early command, then come back as a pocket rocket to win in 1:50.3 over a “fast” surface for driver Ridge Warren, trainer Nicholas Devita, and owner Eric Provost. Always A Thrill won two straight at Pocono before going to Yonkers and adding three more wins in succession; he then missed just a neck in the Hilltop Invitational class before regaining his winning ways at the northeast Pennsylvania oval.
Racing this week will finish out with cards on Monday (April 28) and Tuesday (April 29) at 1 p.m.; Monday will feature the $50,000 Championship of the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old trotting fillies and a carryover into the fifth race Pick-5 pool and the last race High-5 wager, while Tuesday will be headlined by the $35,000 Championship of the Game To Claims Trotting Series for horses who were base-priced at $20,000.
The next week, Sunday night (May 4) cards at 6 p.m. will be added to the mix, joining the Saturday-Monday-Tuesday at 1 p.m. programming, as Pocono kicks off the schedule basically in use until just past Labor Day weekend. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.