Marcus Miller drove the winners of both $13,000 featured paces on Tuesday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, en route to leading all the horsemen at the mountain oval on the day with three total triumphs.
First up was the Captaintreacherous sophomore gelding Captain Cook, who won for the third time in his last six starts with a 1:53.1 pacesetting victory. Captain Cook strung the field out through big fractions of :28.3, :57.2, and 1:24.4 on a cool and windy day, then held together to turn back co 2-1 shot Play The by 1-1/4 lengths for trainer Bruce Clarke, co-owner with Patricia Waldeck.
Marcus returned in the other featured race with a three-year-old Betting Line gelding trained by his father Erv, Bet Eightthirtyone. The sophomore, the 5-2 second choice, proved to be a pocket rocket, sitting in the two-hole behind Greystone Watchman, who was let go at 8-1 despite winning in this company in his last start and set fractions of :27.3, :57.1, and 1:25, and the two battled hard before Bet Eightthirtyone was able to get home first by a half-length in 1:53.4 for owner D R Van Witzenburg.
Pennsylvania’s own Bret Michaels, famous musician as a single act and as the front man for the band Poison, will appear in concert at Pocono on Friday night, and to allow for proper cleanup after the event, the card on Saturday at the mountain oval will begin at 3 p.m. Featured will be a $25,000 fast-class pace headed by Ruthless Hanover, coming off a 1:50 win at Philly after settling the mind boggling fractions of :25, :51.4 and 1:19.1 when Allywag Hanover recently tied Wiggle It Jiggleit’s track record of 1:47.3 there.
(PHHA / Pocono)
