from the PHHA/Pocono

Wilkes-Barre, PA — Wilberforce rolled to his third straight victory on Sunday night (Oct. 9), never looking back in the $20,000 conditioned trotting feature at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono and crossing the wire 2-1/4 lengths to the good in 1:53.3.

Driver Eric Carlson wasn’t fastest away with the gelded son of Caviar Crown, but he used the track geometry advantage of starting from the rail to maximum effect, never letting his outside early pursuers get around him and then forcing them to drop in behind by the :27.2 quarter under pain of being parked the duration.

From there things were fairly easy for Wilberforce, as he notched middle splits of :56.2 and 1:25, then trotted home strongly for his tenth triumph of the year. Uncle Hanover came up the Pocono Pike to take away second late from pocket-sitting Stonebridge Combat behind the winner, who pushed his seasonal earnings over $100,000 for trainer Kris Rickert, co-owner with Dale Wareham.

The 3-year-old Muscles Yankee gelding Double L Lindy, unraced at two, has really found his trotting form in recent starts and went even faster than the feature horses, posting a 1:53 win on a 53-degree night in a $16,000 event.

A winner of only one of his first 11 career starts, Double L Lindy has now won four straight, including this smashing mile which saw him 19-3/4 lengths to the good at the wire. Ånthony Napolitano, who had posted 10 victories in his last three Pocono cards, handled the promising youngster for trainer Åke Svanstedt and the ownership of Lindy Farms of Connecticut, Joe Sbrocco, Paul Van Camp, and Little E LLC.

In the $18,000 featured pace, Michael’s Victory ran his current winning streak to three with a 1:51.3 victory, overcoming a first-over trip and holding off second-over Perfect Bet by a head. Simon Allard, with 23 victories in October, sulky-sat behind the sophomore Rocknroll Hanover gelding, whose dam Michelle’s Victory is a three-quarter sister to the $1.3 million-winning Rare Jewel, for trainer Mark Silva and owner Jeffrey Snyder.