Wilkes-Barre, PA – Allegra Hanover went into the $50,000 Bobby Weiss Series Championship for 3-year-old pacing fillies with two wins and a nose loss in the preliminaries; the filly who beat her was Strutsville, who was the only horse who won all three of her prelims.
Allegra Hanover was well in control of her Bobby Weiss Series Championship on Monday afternoon at Pocono. Curtis Salonick photo.
But Allegra Hanover drew the inside for Monday’s (May 5) Weiss finale at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania and Strutsville had post seven – quite the reverse from their last meeting. The wagering public flocked to Allegra Hanover, and they were rewarded when the daughter of Papi Rob Hanover came away with a 1:52.2 victory over her archrival.
Sweet Odds (also a two-time prelim winner) and Strutsville were fastest away from the gate, with the latter claiming the point, but Allegra Hanover was already out and moving frontward for Dexter Dunn by the :27.4 quarter. Allegra Hanover got command, and nobody was eager to challenge her through midsplits of :56.2 and 1:24.1. Strutsville (to the outside) and Sweet Odds (to the inside) took their shot in the stretch, but Allegra Hanover won by a length over the potential pocket rocket, with Sweet Odds another 1½ lengths back.
Allegra Hanover posted only one victory at two, but that win gave her a career best clocking of 1:51.3. The filly is now four-for-five (plus the nose loss) this year, and that lifetime standard may not be standing much longer for the filly, trainer Gareth Dowse, and the ownership of Martin Valentic, T G Stable LLC, and Bill Boyce.
A $20,000 Weiss Consolation saw the Tall Dark Stranger filly Beckoning Yankee reduce her speed…