LONGSHOTS ABOUND IN PA ALL-STARS ACTION AT POCONO
PHHA / Pocono
Curtis Salonick Photo
WILKES-BARRE PA – Four $30,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event for two-year-old trotting fillies were featured on Monday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, and after a favorite started the stakes action off, it was a longshot player’s delight the rest of the way.
There was no hint in the air of what was to come when the Father Patrick – Evelyn filly Vanessa J won as a heavy favorite while taking a maiden mark of 1:57.3 in an easy 4¼ length victory. Tim Tetrick guided the winner, who had been fourth in a PA Sire Stakes in her only other purse start, for owner/trainer Lucas Wallin, who has had quite the profitable relationship with Tetrick as of late.
Heavy favorite Angelpedia made the lead in another All-Stars division, but then she made a break past the eighth, leaving the race wide open. In the end, it was the International Moni – Possessed By Lindy filly Pembroke Moni who made the best rally in the last quarter, scoring her second career victory in a 1:58.3 mile by 1¼ lengths for meet-leading driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Mark Ford, and owner William Varney. The first four finishers in this race went off at 16-1, 26-1, 6-1, and 99-1.
David Miller won the other two races, although not getting the pari-mutuel respect a Hall of Famer is usually due. He guided the fastest All-Stars winner of the day, the Donato Hanover – Movitational miss Portulaca, who won a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes in her only other purse start and here lowered her mark to 1:56.3 at a truly generous 14-1. The other Sire Stakes winner in the first round, Fashion Annie, was odds-on from the rail vs. Portulaca’s starting from the outside post seven, but her own :56.2 late charge landed her a neck behind the winner, trained by Kathleen La Montagne, co-owner with Donald La Montagne.
All of this was mere All-Stars pari-mutuel prelude to the $108.80 winner Broadway Sensation, who took a maiden mark of 1:58.4 in a field of six where the three favorites all made miscues, and the top three finishers were 53-1, 18-1, and 22-1. Broadway Sensation is a daughter of Bar Hopping – Broadway Woman who is trained by Steve LeBlanc for LeBlanc Racing Inc., Douglas Johnson, and Glenn Dyke, and was 1½ lengths clear at the finish.
In fact, Pocono had a second explosion of the tote board three races after Broadway Express won, as TSM Batman came up the deep Pocono Pike to post a $132.60 bomber mutuel for driver Ridge Warren, trainer Bob Krenitsky Jr. and owner Ted Tomson. Although this result was an “upset” in the usual sense of the word, deep readers of the form noticed that on June 13, TSM Batman won and paid $99.20 to win. He becomes the first horse to post two $50+ prices in the 2022 meet; also, the last time there were two $100 winners on the same card at Pocono was nearly four years ago, on August 11, 2018.
All the burnt-out lightbulbs in the tote board will be replaced by Tuesday’s 1:30 card, which ends the four-day racing week at The Downs. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html.
