TWO-YEAR-OLDS IN FIRST STAKES ACTION AT POCONO
WILKES-BARRE PA – The two-year-olds saw their first stakes action at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Monday afternoon, with two $35,000 divisions of a Pennsylvania All-Stars event for trotting colts.
The International Moni – Peach Martini colt Crantini crossed the Canada/U.S. border to make his money debut and then posted a 1:56.4 triumph at first asking in the quicker section. Scott Zeron, big winner on the day with four sulky successes, got the baby away second behind the 1-5 favorite Paramount Legend N (a rare Down Under horse to race on these shores as a two-year-old), then tipped him outside on the far turn. The two freshmen battled each other until Crantini was able to go by by three-quarters of a length for trainer Megan Scran and Thestable Crantini Group.
In the other division, Herodotus, a Bar Hopping – Regal Woman colt who was named after the man Cicero called the “Father Of History,” started writing his own racing history with a 1:58 victory in his first purse start. David Miller kept the 3-5 choice in third down the backstretch, but then got some fortune when the pocketsitter pulled nearing the three-quarters and he and his colt were able to slide up into the two-hole; from there, Herodotus waited for the Pocono Pike then used it as his path to a 2¼ length victory over longshot Dancehall King. Newly-minted Hall Of Famer Ron Burke trains the promising bay for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC along with Hatfield Stables.
