Aroda N ships in and makes immediate impact

WILKES-BARRE PA – Aroda N (Art Major), coming to Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania via Yonkers and Tioga, adapted immediately to Keystone state soil, coming off of cover to lower his harness racing mark to 1:51.1 in the $18,500 fast-class pacing feature on Saturday.

None Bettor A pushed Big Bang Bang before letting him go past the :26.3 opener. “Bang Bang” still had the lead by the :55.2 half, with Be Dazzled Lou A pulling from third to go first-over, with Goliath Hanover and Aroda N towing along up behind him.

Be Dazzled Lou A had cleared the pacesetter by the 1:23.2 three-quarters, and the first-over was not staying with him he opened up a sizable margin by headstretch. But Braxten Boyd swung the winning son of Art Major three-wide for the stretch drive and methodically cut into “Lou”’ s lead, going by him by a head  at the finish. Shane Tritton conditions the winner for Joshua Jay Graber.

In a $16,500 co-feature for the fast-class pacing set, the So Surreal gelding Splash Brother showed his win at 15-1 a level lower last out was no fluke, handling the class hike easily with a 1:49.3 triumph at 13-1. Braxten Boyd also had the drive behind this co-feature winner, now with $929,481 in lifetime earnings, who made two aggressive pacecontrolling moves in opening numbers of :26.3 and :54.3, opened up at the 1:21.3 three-quarters, and stayed clear for trainer Ray Schnittker, also co-owner with Nolamaura Racing LLC, Steven Arnold, and Tammy Flannery.

ARODA N REPLAY

The Bar Hopping sophomore filly Ginger Tree Lex, the winner of her 2025 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship, showed herself ready to defend her title a week from Sunday at Philly by winning a $17,500 trot for younger performers. Matt Kakaley advanced with the filly uncovered down the backstretch, got to retuck in the pocket on the far turn, then kept coming up the inside and easily caught pacesetting favorite Night Phantom while matching her career mark of 1:53.4, which she posted in winning her PaSS Championship and established a Sires final divisional mark. Steve Cook trains the filly for Sam Beegle, Ginger Tree Ventures, Knollview Stable 2, and Bob Reber Jr.

GINGER TREE LEX REPLAY

Braxten Boyd had four successful drivers to lead the horsepeople’s colony this afternoon; his fellow member of “Team BB” as the last two Rising Star Award winners, Brett Beckwith, triumphed twice, as did driver Anthony Napolitano and trainer Darren Taneyhill.

Racing resumes at Pocono on Monday at 1 p.m.; there will be two $27,500 featured races, one for trotters and one for pacing distaffs. A week from Monday, Pocono will host the $1.4M Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship card for two-year-olds. Free Pocono program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

From the PHHA / Pocono Downs