Despite being off for over six months, Incommunicado tied the fastest trotting time of the year at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, 1:52.2, in winning the $17,500 trotting portion of co-featured events on Saturday (May 21).
The four-year-old Chapter Seven gelding, a winner of over $200,000 at both two and three, was sent right to the front by George Napolitano Jr., putting foes behind in a :27 opener, resting to the half in :56.3, and then speeding up to hit the three-quarters in 1:24.3. Dees Red Delicous gave valiant chase from the pocket, but Incommunicado still had a :27.4 kicker in him to win by a half-length for trainer Åke Svanstedt and the partnership of Knutsson Trotting Inc., Little E LLC, Arthur Geiger and David Stolz.
In the $17,500 pacing side of the headliners, Tito Rocks, the odds-on favourite, was between War N Munn to his left and Rogerthat Bluechip to a :26.4 quarter before taking command. Jason Bartlett let Rogerthat Bluechip go on to the lead, but was quick to reclaim the front with the victorious Sweet Lou gelding, putting up middle splits of :55.3 and 1:22.4 without too much pressure. Into the stretch Tito Rocks was looking good, but he needed late Bartlett rocking to hold off the rail-shooting War N Munn by a length in 1:51.1 and run his earnings to $308,152 for trainer Robert Cleary and Royal Wire Products Inc.
Go West Go Fast again tied the Pocono track record for highest-priced claim ever when for the fourth straight race he was taken for the $40,000 claiming price. On Saturday, Go West Go Fast posted his seventh win in his last eight starts in a new way – he dead-heated for the win with Play The Field in 1:50.1. The day’s theme of “you have to be close to the front to have a good chance” held even in the dead-heat, as Go West Go Fast was the pacesetter and Play The Field was in the pocket.
Braxten Boyd, Tyler Buter and George Napolitano Jr. all had three winners on the Pocono Saturday card.
Sunday’s 5 p.m. twilight card at Pocono will find Hambletonian-caliber trotters looking to solidify their stakes credentials in three $30,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event for three-year-old trotting males. Program pages are available at the PHHA website.
(PHHA / Pocono)