WILKES-BARRE PA – The 2026 running season kicked off Saturday afternoon at Pocono Downs in Mohegan Pennsylvania, and with temperatures in the 40s (mild for this time of year in northeastern Pennsylvania), excellent speed standards were achieved on a well-manicured oval.
Two weeks ago at The Meadowlands, Resolve To Win finished third 5-2 in the same race as Ultion Face S, who finished fourth 51-1; Last week, Resolve To Win faded late at the Meadows, while Ultion Face S went wire-to-wire at Yonkers. In Pocono’s fast $27,500 handicap trot class on Saturday, the long-thought took a nice 5-1 prize on the Resolve gelding Resolve To Win, who sat on the back of 1-5 chalk Ultion Face S in fractions of :27, :56 and 1:24.3, then moved with head extension and trotted away in 1:53.1. Brett Beckwith handled the $359,096 winner for trainer Enrico Robinson and owner Pollack Racing LLC.
DECIDE TO WIN REPETITION
At the $27,500 pace it looked for a while that a similar situation to the trot might develop, as two Per Engblom trainees raced 1-2, with heavy favorite Pinny Tiger A in the lead coming into the track, while Lou Hill – who had beaten Pinny Tiger A at The Meadowlands in his last race at the end of 2025, 7-1 – enjoyed the gold seat.
But Pinny Tiger A, who made two moves early (:27.4, :56) to control the pace after a sharp 1:50.4 win at The Meadows in his 2026 arc, was up to the challenge and came home in :54.2 – :26.4 to take his score back to 1:50.2.
In contention for the winner was Jason Bartlett, who took his United States record to 9-7-2-0 for Engblom and Elite Harness Racing LLC.
PINNY TIGER A REPEAT
Trainer Brandon Presto, the top trainer at The Meadows, loaded a trailer with six horses to compete in the $15,000 first-round preliminaries of the Game To Claim Pacing Series for horses with a $25,000 base tag. He won with three of them – but won’t be heading back west with any of them, as the trio was part of nine horses boarded for a total of $225,000 in this frantic series of claims.
The three Presto horses, all ridden by George Napolitano Jr. for owner Rocco Stebbins, the three fastest divisions won. The fastest time was 1:51.3 Captain treacherous gelding Ilderton AM, who grabbed pacesetter Supplemental Fee by the nose – a week after Stebbins/Presto claimed him. The Custard The Dragon gelding Rum N Raisins posted a new score of 1:51.4 in his class, while the Sweet Lou gelding Do Mischief managed 1:52.
Also winning and then having to change stables was Dontlikeitleave, a modified son of A rock ‘n’ roll dance who defeated Whiskey Breath by the narrowest of margins in 1:52.2 for Team Stratton, driver Jordan and trainer Cory, and Caldwell Marnie Racing LLC (the successful claimants of Do Mischief). Getting the luxury of returning to a “familiar environment” was the message Check six gelding Six Again, a 1:52.2 winner for driver Matt Kakaley and owner Stacey Currie; ‘Familiar environment’ is a relative term here, as Six Again had just visited trainer Crit Walsh for this match.
Jason Bartlett, who will collect his 2025 Driver of the Year trophy next weekend in Florida, had four winners in total, three ahead of Per Engblom; George Napolitano Jr. and Brandon Presto had their mutual triples as noted; and Brett Beckwith also had a trio of winner’s circle visits, two of which were trained by Joe Bongiorno.
Pocono opens the season with the basic schedule it will follow almost all year — racing Saturday, Monday and Tuesday at 1 p.m. — and the next card on Monday has a $15,500 pace for developing horses. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.pha.org.
For full race results, click here: American trotting results.
From the PHHA/Pocono Downs
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