Nancy Irene wins Pocono feature

Jim Morrill Jr., and Nancy Irene took the short route coming down the stretch and won the featured race of the 13-race card Wednesday (March 24) at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

Nancy Irene, a six-year-old Park Place mare, left from the one hole in the $20,000 claiming pace for fillies and mares and sat second for the first half of the mile with Im A Native Two (George Napolitano Jr.) cutting out the mile. Opening panel was clocked in 27.1 and half in 56.1.

The three-quarter pole time was 1:24.1 with Im A Native Two still on the front end and challenged on the outside by Mike Simons and Keystone Katie with the race winner sitting on the inside.
It was a dash to the finish line with Nancy Irene winning by a half length over a fast-closing Fivewillgetuten (Andrew McCarthy) and Keystone Katie.

This marked the first win in eight starts in 2009 for Luanne Kroniger trained Nancy Irene and the fourth win of the young season for Morrill Jr. at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs.

Napolitano Jr. collected his fifth and six wins at the Northeastern Pennsylvania racetrack through the first nine races of the evening. He won with Jessalilmixup in 1:53.4 for trainer Lou Pena and earlier on the card scored with Sporty Callie in the opening race for trainer Chris Carruba.

Race 6 produced the second highest Trifecta payoff in the 45-year history of the track when the 2-8-7 combination returned $9,259.90 for a $2 wager. Elaine T Cronos, driven by Luis Porfilio, won this race with a time of 1:54.2 with second going to Mossdale Gambit N (Mike Micallef), a 50-1 shot. Third was Joshua’s Jet (Yannick Gingras. (Pocono)