Pocono: Pennsylvania Classic easy as one, two, three for Burke barn

The Burke Brigade came out in force on Saturday night at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono and dominated the initial $561,500 Pennsylvania Classic 3-year-old pace, sweeping the top three spots.

Check Six and Yannick Gingras took over from stablemate Big Top Hanover at the quarter and managed to get very soft opening half fractions of 27 2/5 and 56 1/5. J K Will Power, an elimination winner a week ago, came up without cover for David Miller and applied stern pressure down the backstretch, forcing the leader through a 27 second third quarter.

The two leaders dueled through the stretch, and Check Six showed his courage, clicking off a 27 2/5 final quarter and holding J K Will Power at bay. Big Top Hanover followed his stablemates home in third with The Catamount Kid and Lyons Snyder rounding out the top five.

"I was a little surprised no one from the outside left, but most of them were just racing for a check," said Gingras. "I'm glad it worked out well this time. It made up for a bad winter quickly."

Sent off as a 2-1 choice, Check Six returned $6.20 in scoring by a measured head. Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi, W. Switala and J. Martin own the son of Somebeachsomewhere, a winner in all three of his sophomore starts, and now with career earnings of $416,139.