Choco Charlie ends runner up streak with powerful win

WILKES-BARRE PA – The Andover Hall gelding Choco Charlie, after three seconds and three thirds in his last six harness racing starts, found a great time to regain his winning ways, taking the $20,000 Winter Is Coming Trotting Series Championship at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on the next-to-last card of the 2025 year.

George Napolitano Jr., who tied with meet leader Tyler Buter by notching three harness racing driving victories on the day, moved the Jill Roland trainee, owned by Bernard O’Brien, outside raw nearing turn two and went after pacesetting favorite Tuis Angel, a prelim winner last week who controlled the stick with two moves after early fractions of :28 and :58.3.

Choco Charlie, second then third in his series prelims, made a steady advance on the leader down the backstretch and went right up to the pacesetter just after the 1:27.3 three-quarters, with One After Nine, the only doubler in the WICTS in the prelims, sitting well-placed in the two-hole.

Going around the final bend, however, One After Nine fumbled and bothered half the rest of the field, leaving the big battle to the first-over and the leader, and Choco Charlie proved the stronger of the two in the drive to the wire, winning in 1:56.1 with his own back half in :56.4, excellent speed on the cold day.

CHOCO CHARLIE REPLAY

The $16,000 co-feature trot also went to a first-over horse on a day when the speed did not hold up well, as the Trixton sophomore gelding Tequila Talking AS pulled away after a grinding challenge to stop the clock in 1:56.4. Anette Lorentzon conditions the winner for ACL Stuteri AB.

Saturday’s 1 p.m. card will be the final program of the season at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, and in addition to excellent racing with up-and-coming horses in the featured spots, there will be a smorgasbord of excellent wagering opportunities. The moneymaking opportunities will start in the first race, where there will be a carryover into the day’s initial Pick 4 wager.

Then, because it is the last card of the season, there can be no carryovers at day’s end, so the five bets that usually feature the carryover possibility are MUST-WIN bets on Saturday. They are the Pick 5 (starts race five, ends race nine), Pick 3 (starts race nine, ends race eleven), Pick 4 (starts race ten, ends race fourteen), Superfecta (race thirteen), and High 5 (race fourteen).

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