Wilkes-Barre, PA — Next Saturday (April 25), Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania hosts the $50,000 final of the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old pacing males, and after this Saturday’s (April 18) final preliminary round, conducted in three $17,500 divisions, you’d be hard pressed not to give a decent chance to several different horses.
Ooglesaurus had won his two Weiss starts, but he did not enter the series this week. The other prelim doubler, Twin B Thriller, can’t be downgraded after finishing fourth on Saturday, either, as he set fractions of :27.2, :57.4 and 1:25.1, but as showdown time neared, he suffered broken equipment, eventually going off stride; his earlier 1:49.4 performance may make bettors give him the benefit of the doubt.
The winner of that Weiss section, the Perfect Sting gelding Stingman, righted his own ship after a hard-luck fourth and a second locally following four straight wins at The Meadows to start his campaign. Dave Palone, the winningest driver in harness history, raced Stingman in the two-hole, and when his chief nemesis suffered his bad luck, the sophomore mustered :54.2-:27 back numbers to defeat first-up Hunthehunter by a half length for Tee Wine, taking oversight of the horse this week, and the partnership of Jack Piatt III, Scott Croftcheck, Joseph Seman and Gregory Usner.
No winner Saturday could raise his Weiss win total to two — except for Pocono’s top driver Tyler Buter on the day, as he captured the other pair of prelims. Justinian made an early move to the top in a division with splits of :27, :56.2 and 1:23.2, then drew off by 3-1/4 lengths in a lifetime best 1:51.3 after two series second-place efforts. The successful altered son of Papi Rob Hanover is trained by Nick DeVita for Pit Bull Stable LLC, John Cummins, Christopher Giaccio and Mitchell Cohen.
Buter also paraded back the Huntsville gelding Twin B Manhunt, who stayed inside through splits of :27.4, :57.1 and 1:24.3, continuing up the Pocono Pike to break his maiden in 1:53. Coming off a fifth and a second in the Weiss, Twin B Manhunt got himself a badly-needed victory eyeing next week’s action for trainer Nifty Norman and Dune Road Stable LLC.
The Weiss Championship race for the glamour division will be drawn Monday morning (April 20), and ascertaining the eight finalists will share equal importance with where they draw – and how the race tactics will shape up.
A $27,500 fast-class handicap pace saw the Sweet Lou gelding Lou Hill overcome the outermost starting slot, getting to the lead past a :27 quarter for driver Colin Kelly and continuing on through middle splits of :55.4 and 1:22.4. There was no shortage of stretch challengers to the pacesetter, with an angling Copperfield coming fastest of all but missing the top spot by a head in the 1:50.2 mile. The track’s leading trainer, Per Engblom, conditions Lou Hill, now 5-3-2-0 in Pocono’s top class this year, for owner Tom Hill.
Two undercard achievements should be noted. The fastest mile of the day, 1:49.4, was taken by Art Of Revenge (Buter) in a high-level claiming pace; and Farah Trio IT won her eighth race of the campaign to make her the winningest trotting mare in North America in 2026, with Matt Kakaley quickly getting her back on stride from an early bad step and going on to win in 1:53.2.
Buter had a natural grand slam in races three through six, including the two Weiss heats, to lead drivers on the day and raise his meet lead; Matt Kakaley had three visits to Victory Lane, while doubles went to George Napolitano Jr. and Dave Palone. The 2026 leader on the training side as noted, Per Engblom, sent out three winners, while Ron Burke had a winning duo.
Monday’s 1 p.m. program will see these Weiss pacers’ trotting counterparts race their final preliminary round, with Confident Volo seeking to be the only male to sweep his Weiss prelims. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.