Pocono: Oogleville tops big Saturday for Bartlett, Engblom

On a sloppy Saturday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, Oogleville and World Of Wishes both ran their records to two-for-two in as many preliminaries of the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old pacing males, which on Saturday saw five $20,000 divisions contested.

The win by Oogleville, a Huntsville colt who fronted his field most of the way for Morrison Racing Stables, came in the fastest mile in Weiss competition through the off going, 1:54 2/5, and was the highlight of the day for the red-hot combination of trainer Per Engblom and driver Jason Bartlett. Engblom and Bartlett teamed for three Weiss winners on a card where Engblom sent out four winners in all and Bartlett fashioned a 12-6-5-0 driving record to raise his Pocono UDR to .498 (to go along with his press-time .463 "batting average" at Yonkers and .444 at the Meadowlands).

The other two winners for Team Bartlett/Engblom both broke their maidens, with the Heston Blue Chip colt Squeaky Blue giving Morrison Racing a second Weiss success with a 1:54 3/5 triumph and the Always B Miki gelding Chief Bogo commanding his field in a 1:55 4/5 mile for the Bogo Stable ownership.

The Bettor's Wish gelding World Of Wishes earned his opponents' respect by going the fastest first prelim, 1:51, so this week when driver Patrick Ryder put the 3-year-old on the lead, he faced no front-end pressure, and having conserved speed early he used it well late to win comfortably in 1:56 for trainer Chris Ryder and owner Philip Steinberg.

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The other Weiss section also went to a former maiden, the Captain Crunch gelding Captain Luffy, in 1:54 4/5, and it illustrated a subtle point that handicappers would want to note. Trainer Travis Alexander had two horses in the race, Ima Perfect Choice (only a half-length shy in finishing third the first week) and Captain Luffy, who had made breaks in his last three races of last year, although coming back with a qualifying win. Driver Matt Kakaley, three-time defending Pocono champion and the preferred driver for Alexander horses, got up behind Captain Luffy for Fiddler's Creek Stables LLC., and the choice was shown to be a good one when the youngster rallied late to be on the winning end of a nose decision.

Series action will dominate the Monday and Tuesday cards at Pocono, both of which will have a 1 p.m. first post. On Monday, there will be three $20,000 divisions for males and three for females in the Bobby Weiss Series for 3-year-old trotters, the second prelim for the males and the first for the females; there will also be a carryover into the Pick 5 pool starting in race five. On Tuesday, no fewer than eight $15,000 divisions of the Game Of Claims Trotting Series for horses base-tagged at $20,000 in this first prelim will be contested throughout the card.

--press release (PHHA/Pocono)--