Tetrick and Fusco set new Pocono marks

Driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Carmine Fusco have been red-hot this year at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs and they teamed up for a memorable Saturday afternoon, winning four straight races and setting two new track records.

The streak began in Race 7, when Apollo Todd led all the way to win his ninth straight start at Pocono.

That broke the previous track record of eight consecutive wins, set by Verbal Abuse in 2004. Apollo Todd beat a field of $25,000 claimers for the record-setting victory, pacing the mile in 1:52:3.

The amazing part of the streak is that it began right after the five-year-old gelding was claimed for $7,000 by Louis Beltrami of Drums, PA and James Clement of Hazleton, PA.

Apollo Todd stopped at every rung on the claiming ladder during his streak before winning the last two races at $25,000, Pocono's highest claiming race. Fusco has trained the gelding to seven of the nine straight wins, while Tetrick has driven for the last five.

After Tetrick and Fusco won Races 8 and 9 with pacer Hesoneinamillion and trotter Karpathos, the pair set their sights on the Race 10 feature, an Open pace with a purse of $20,000.

Their pacer, Four Starz Sue, was more than up to the task, picking up a front-running victory in 1:50, a new track mark for four-year-old pacing stallions. Space Shuttle set the previous mark of 1:50:3 back in 2000.

Four Starz Sue now has 11 wins in 20 races this year despite being unraced as a two-year-old and going winless as a three-year-old last year. The stallion is owned by Four Starzzzz Stable of Glenwood, NJ.

Tetrick, who leads the nation's drivers in wins and earnings, sits atop the Pocono drivers standings despite his part-time status at the track. Meanwhile Fusco's 109 training victories are more than four times the amount of his nearest competitor at the track. (Pocono)

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