Wilkes-Barre, PA — On Tuesday (March 25) at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, there were 10 $9,000 third-round divisions of the Game Of Claims Pacing Series for horses base-tagged at $15,000. And, of the 10 winners, only one of them, Chiefs Beach, has a chance of making the $17,500 series final seven days hence.
The only winner starting in all of this level’s preliminary legs was Chiefs Beach, who had a fifth and a sixth in his last two outings versus this kind, but Tuesday utilized a :26.3 backstretch brush to command and won for driver Simon Allard in 1:54.
Allard had three series winners, as did Tyler Buter, who had four wins on the card to tie George Napolitano Jr. with 39 at the top of the Pocono seasonal standings. Among Buter’s trio were Snap Test (1:54.1) and Colonel Bayama (1:54), two horses who won each of the two series starts they made. Colonel Bayama also defeated second-place Stick With Cramer, one of two horses victorious in the first two prelims. Buter’s fastest Game Of Claims winner was Team Mac in 1:53.3.
Allard’s other two winners included Angelo in 1:54.3 — in that race, Captain Terminator, the other winner in the first two prelims and the only horse claimed in all three legs, was third — and Tin Roof Raider A, who opened the card with a 1:54.1 win.
Braxten Boyd guided five horses home first during the card for the day’s honors, including Master Miki (1:55.4) and the fastest Game Of Claims winner, Whitecookie (1:53.2). Whitecookie was joined as the only Tuesday winners in their sole series start by Hello Gorgeous (1:55.2, Matt Kakaley); Master Miki paired with Fredneck (1:54, George Napolitano Jr.) to give trainer Geovany Hernandez the only series double in the program’s grouping and one of his three wins on the day.
This group has its final next Tuesday (April 1), and there is a Game Of Claims Series trot in April, but starting with Saturday’s (March 29) 1 p.m. card, the next at Pocono, the spotlight in series action shifts to sophomores of both gaits and sexes in the Bobby Weiss Series for developing 3-year-olds. There will be six $20,000 first-round preliminaries for male pacers. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.