First State Joni established himself as the colt to beat in next week's $100,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders' Fund final for sophomore male pacers, coasting to a 1:54.1 win in his $20,000 second-round preliminary split on Thursday at Dover Downs.
Nanticoke Racing's LGs Reed O Wen ($2.80, Jim Morand) won his second straight race in 2:02.1 on Wednesday (Sept. 15) at Harrington Raceway in preparation for upcoming two-year-old Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund (DSBF) trotting stakes action.
Mankat was out most of the quarter in one of the three $15,300 feature races during a sweltering Tuesday afternoon at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, but from there the four-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere was never threatened while lowering his mark to 1:50.4 in the division for male pacers.
Mankat, starting from post three, was kept outside most of the :26.3 opener by Horse to his immediate inside, but after using his horse to control the throttle, driver Jim Pantaleano was able to back off the half to a moderate :55.4. Mankat had to speed up again as favoured Tell Them Lou made a steady charge up to and past the 1:22.4 three-quarters, but though the chalk did well he had to settle for second, a length behind the Christen Pantaleano trainee, now a winner of two of his last three (and with two more races of eligibility in this class) for owner Matthew Morrison.
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A pair of Always B Miki sophomore pacing fillies, So Irresistible and Incaseyoudidntknow, came right back to run their Bobby Weiss Series records to two-for-two with tallies in their respective $17,500 second preliminary legs Monday afternoon (April 12) at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono.
So Irresistible came with an uncovered sweep on the second turn to grab command early in the backstretch, pacing out her own back half in :54.3 to stop the timer at 1:53 a length ahead of 35-1 shot Beach Crazy. Scott Zeron was again behind the Bruce Saunders trainee as she remained perfect in three seasonal starts for owners Charles and Julie Nash.