By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
CHESTER PA – They saved the fastest for last on Thursday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, as the Sweet Lou sophomore gelding Lite N Sweet won the $12,600 feature race for his section, the last event carded on the day, in a career best 1:50.4. Though the past performance line shows “2”s all the way to the stretch, the three-year-old in fact made three moves during the mile: leaving well, retaking after letting one foe go and then sitting by the next one to charge up, then coming on again in the lane for a three-quarters of a length victory over Andy Mac Hanover for driver Troy Beyer and Team Cancelliere, trainer Tom and owner/brother John. In the faster division of the quad features for filly pacers, Light And Tight, a sophomore daughter of American Ideal, was able to rally for a neck tally over pacesetting Absolute Power while reducing her own lifetime best a tick to 1:52.4 for trainer Nifty Norman and owners Pinske Stables and David Hoese. Light And Tight’s driver David Miller won four races on the afternoon to tie for top driver with George Napolitano Jr.; “George Nap” won the other pacing filly feature with the Sweet Lou mare Louie The Lilac in 1:54.1 by a neck over Esperanza Hanover, giving Team Cancelliere another victory in the day’s featured contests. David Miller earned himself a second feature win in the lone trotting headliner, winning with the International Moni gelding Allmoni in 1:57.2 to run his 2023 record to four-for-five with a neck defeat of Metro Matty. Trainer Jason Johnson co-owns the improved trotter with Edward and Kelly Moore. The first Philly pari-mutuel race for two-year-olds in 2023 was conducted during the card, a contest for trotting fillies that went to the Fordham Road – Lovebeinglucky miss Loveyoubunches, who came home in :57.2 - :28.2 to win in a new mark of 1:58 for driver Todd Schadel, also co-owner with his wife Christine and Rick and Regina Beinhauer. The win by Loveyoubunches gave Todd and Christine’s son Cody his first licensed win as a trainer as he becomes an even bigger part of the far-flung Schadel operation. Racing continues this week at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday at 12:25 and Sunday at 12:40. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
CHESTER PA – The three-year-old trotters Hardrockcafe and Met Your Request were the winners in the $12,600 featured races at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon. Hardrockcafe was up first, and the gelded son of Rock Of Cashel (who is still racing at Philly) made every pole a winning one with a 3¾ length victory in which he reduced his mark to 1:55.4. Todd McCarthy drove Hardrockcafe for trainer Mark Harder, who also owns the sophomore with Joseph Jannuzzelli and Jeffrey Ruch. Waloner led most of the way in the other division, but the Met’s Hall gelding Met Your Request, who had sat third-in much of the mile, had enough kick late to overhaul the leader by a head in 1:56.3. Tyler Miller was in the sulky for trainer/mother Julie Miller and the ownership of father’s Andy Miller Stable Inc., partner with Mr. Caroll Huffman. Tim Tetrick added to his meet-leading driving win lead by piloting four horses back to Victory Lane. Harrah’s current schedule has racing on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons at 12:25 p.m., and Sunday afternoons at 12:40 p.m. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – On Tuesday afternoon Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania featured a pair of $16,000 contests for developing younger pacers. In the division for males, Binge On Yankee regulated the pace then held off the potential Pocono Pike-shooter Erinwood Yves by a neck in 1:52. Starting from the outside post last week and too far back to rally effectively, this week the Stay Hungry sophomore gelding took control from the pole post position and raced on top throughout for driver Simon Allard, stepping home in :54.4 while winning for trainer Ron Burke and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Brad Grant, and Lawrence Karr. The featured female division saw Allard (now second in the drivers standings) and Burke (topping the trainers list) recombine to get home the Lazarus N miss Get Answers, a recent big checkgetter in the NJSS, in a lifetime best 1:52.1 while holding off Sweet Home by three-quarters of a length. This was the filly’s first start for her connections, trainer Burke and the ownership of Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Yannick Gingras, and Frank Canzone. The $15,500 class for the top claiming handicap trotters on the grounds produced another impressive winner in the Chapter Seven gelding Valentine Express, who brushed to the lead down the back then went on to take a new mark of 1:53.1 for trainer Mike Watson, owner Chad Lemon, and driver Tyler Buter. Buter, who led all drivers with four successes on the card, also won the first race of the season devoted exclusively to two-year-olds, a filly trot during which the Chapter Seven – Goodtogo Hanover miss surrendered the lead down the backstretch, then fought back with her own last quarter in :28.1 to win in 1:57.4 for John Butenschoen and the partnership of M And L Of Delaware LLC and Alabama Harness Associates LLC. Racing returns to Pocono on Saturday with a 1 p.m. card; on the Sunday 6 p.m. card Pennsylvania Sire Stakes three-year-old pacing fillies will gather in two divisions of a $148,148 third prelim round event. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – There were two $15,000 divisions of the headliner trot on Monday afternoon at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, with Weather Vanes and Emira Mil IT emerging victorious with strong late moves. Emira Mil IT brings with her as good a pedigree as you will find in literally the world – the three-year-old filly is a daughter of Face Time Bourbon out of a Varenne mare, both males international superstars. Emira Mil IT is in top form opening her 2023 campaign, winning her first three starts and lowering her lifetime mark to 1:53 here for Pimpricks Inc. Trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt got Emira Mil IT in the pocket behind Kaddari well before the :29 quarter, then saw favored (1-1* to ”Emira”’s 6-5) Tactical Mounds move to the lead and speed away to middle fractions of :57.1 and 1:24.4. Svanstedt sat chilly with the stablemate to contemporaries Special Way and Bond until nearing headstretch, then moved her out and made up close to three lengths in the drive with a wicked late burst to finish a head ahead of Tactical Mounds. In the other feature division, Jim Pantaleano made a well-timed sweeping move with Weather Vanes, clearing to the lead early on the far turn and going on to equal his lifetime mark of 1:56.1. David Hoover owns and trains the son of Deweycheatumnhowe. The Pocono racing week ends with Tuesday’s 1 p.m. card; there are three $16,000 divisions of a high-level class for developing horses. Also, the first field exclusively made up of two-year-olds start off the pari-mutuel freshman racing here for 2023, with trotting fillies first in the spotlight. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – This looks like an extraordinary year for three-year-old trotting fillies (following on the heels of Joviality S vs. Jiggy Jog S last season), and many misses who will be racing on the Hambletonian Day card – in the Oaks or elsewhere – were on display Sunday night at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, with the top level races two $70,649 second prelim divisions of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for this group. One filly who may be mulling her options in just over a month is the Southwind Frank filly Bond, who ran her record to two-for-two this year and 9-for-11 lifetime while taking a new mark of 1:51.4, a fifth off the Pocono divisional track record. Trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt got the fleet filly to the top around main rival Railee Something by the eighth, was able to set fractions to her liking -- :27, :56.2, 1:24.3 – then when Railee Something start to make rallying noises behind her, Bond quickened her ground-covering, keeping her main rival a length behind her to the finish. Oh, did we mention she still had the earplugs in when she came back to the winners circle? Åke Svanstedt Inc. co-owns the winner with Little E LLC and L. Berg Inc. It will be interesting when Bond meets up with her heralded stablemate Special Way sometime, likely soon – and whether colts are in her/their eventual future. Tim Tetrick, completing a 13-6-3-2 day in Eastern Pennsylvania (four wins at Philly, two here in four drives), teamed with trainer Marcus Melander, no stranger to the rarified air of top stakes competition, to win the other Sire Stakes division with favored Heaven Hanover in a new mark of 1:52.4. Angelpedia led the field past the quarter in :27.1, yielded to Heart Of Fire in front of the stands then retook the lead just past the :56.2 half. Tetrick moved the winner first-over and was in gear by the 1:24.3 three-quarters, steadily wearing down Angelpedia for a half-length decision and a “Heaven-Angel” exacta. Heaven Hanover, the PA Stallion Series champion of 2022, also looks to have a bright future for the ownership of S R F Stable, Rick Wahlstedt, Heights Stable, and AMG Stable Inc. The Sire Stakes yielded no repeat winner from the first leg, and in fact it took until the last race of Sunday’s card for the PA stakes to produce a two-time winner, in the form of the Andover Hall miss Lillehammer Hall, who lowered her mark to 1:55.3 in one of three $20,000 Stallion Series divisions. Mike Wilder sent Lillehammer Hall uncovered and the filly proved equal to the grinding challenge while remaining undefeated in five 2023 starts (after failing to hit the board in six outings at two) for trainer Todd Rooney and owner Kimberly Farmer. Tim Tetrick’s other Pocono win came in the fastest StS cut behind the Southwind Frank distaff Lie In Wait, whose name described her tactics as she rallied late to reduce her life best to 1:54.3 for Runthetable Stables and trainer Jim Campbell (who won the Hambletonian and the Oaks last year). Also earning a new speed badge was the International Moni filly Lady Lira, who took control from the pole and kept the lead to the wire in 1:55.1 for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Robert Baggitt Jr., and owner Mark Mullen. In a $30,000 Open trot for the highest-caliber horses, Southwind Tyrion came roaring out of the pocket for trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt into a :27.1 last quarter to win in 1:51, the fastest trotting mile of the year at Pocono. Favored Hillexotic, off his 1:50.2 world record in the Maxie Lee Trot at Philly, got “pedestrian” fractions of :28, :56, and 1:23.4 and then turned on the jets, but Southwind Tyrion outjetted him late to win by three parts of a length. A five-year-old son of Muscle Hill, Southwind Tyrion recorded his ninth lifetime victory in just his seventeenth lifetime start midway through his fourth eligible year of racing, having earned $346,047. He is owned by S R F Stable, Åke Svanstedt Inc., Knutsson Trotting, and Brittany Farms. Racing continues at Pocono on Monday and Tuesday, with both cards having a 1 p.m. post time. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
CHESTER PA – Dean B Hanover benefited from yet another clever drive by the meet’s leading driver Tim Tetrick to win Sunday afternoon’s $20,000 Open handicap pace at Harrah’s Philadelphia while equaling his lifetime mark of 1:49.3. The victorious Betting Line gelding got away fourth as Rip Wheeler, fresh off the season’s fastest mile of Pocono at 1:48.1 and stepping up to “the big boys” here, headed right down the road in fractions of :26.4, :54.4., and 1:21.2. It was only entering the far turn that Jilliby Dynamite A (second) and Lou’s Pearlman (third) moved out to position themselves for late challenges, leaving Tetrick (who had a 9-4-3-1 Philly afternoon before heading to Pocono for stakes action) plenty of room to have his pacer gain inside. Through the stretch Dean B Hanover, recording his third straight win, had an open road and was up by a length over Jilliby Dynamite A, with Lou’s Pearlman third; favored Southwind Gendry, who paced this track in 1:47.2 three weeks back, was assigned the outside, didn’t like his leaving chances, then came on strongly late to miss less than two lengths. Dean B Hanover is a lifetime winner of $362,164, and he is co-owned by trainer Jeff Cullipher, Philly’s leading trainer, and Pollack Racing LLC. Pollack/Cullipher also teamed for the day’s fastest mile, a 1:49.1 new lifetime best by the Sportswriter gelding Sport Secret. Andy Miller sent Sport Secret right down the road, and he held off millionaire Workin Ona Mystery by a half-length. There were a pair of $15,300 sub-features. The pacers were topped by another Sportswriter gelding, Sporty M Three. “Sporty” had had three good seconds since a recent layoff and made the breakthrough to the win column while setting a new lifetime best of 1:50.3 for driver Simon Allard, trainer Ron Burke and Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. Sporty M Three came overland to catch the game sophomore filly Ginger Tree Coco by a neck. In the trotting co-feature, Brave By Design sat behind Betterinpinehurst as that one put up splits of :27.1, :56.2, and 1:25, then came up the inside to catch him by a neck in 1:54.1. David Miller drove the Walner gelding for trainer Jenn Bongiorno and Brave By Design Stable. Philly’s current racing schedule is Wednesday through Friday at 12:25 and Sunday at 12:40. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
WILKES-BARRE PA – Pacer Casual Cool and trotter P L Notsonice each beat out some tough opposition to take the $18,500 features on their gait during the Saturday afternoon card at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania. The American Ideal gelding Casual Cool, whose last victory came on May 7 in a “nw6400” class, defeated today’s “nw20000” field with a gritty 1:49.2 effort. Ridge Warren sent the winner of $628,790 frontward early, enduring some time three-wide and then onward around favored Ultimaroca to get the top in :26.1. Casual Cool put up midsplits of :54.2 and 1:21.4 then braced for a stretch charge, which did come – Maximus Miki off cover to his right, Ultimaroca up the inside to his left. Casual Cool was game and got the job done by a head over “Miki,” with Ultimaroca only a neck behind the winner, who is trained by Daniel Renaud for Dune Road Stables LLC On the trotting side, the Kadabra mare P L Notsonice broke a string of four straight seconds by winning emphatically in 1:52.3. The winner of $381,291 set fractions of :27.2, :56.1, and 1:24, then beat Pocono Pike-shooting Robbie Pev by 2½ lengths for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Steven Brabrook, and Elite Harness Racing LLC. Code Cracker and Aflame Hanover both won in 1:50 on the card; the latter gets an extra mention in that he went over $500,000 in career earnings with the victory. Many of the top three-year-old trotting fillies in North America will be racing in two $70,649 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes second prelim round divisions during Pocono’s 6 p.m. card Sunday, Recent stakes winners include Pennsylvania Sire Stakes success stories Sheer Faith and Railee Something and Pennsylvania All-Stars victresses Angelpedia and Bond. Program pages for all Pocono races are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/downsmsppps.html. By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
CHESTER PA – Betsy Ross Pace champion Max Contract continued to show her ability, winning the $20,000 Open handicap distaff pacing feature at Harrah’s Philadelphia Friday afternoon in 1:49.3 over a track that had just been upgraded from “sloppy” to “good.” The daughter of Huntsville left between horses and chose to settle in third early as first Majorca N and then Boudoir Hanover went to the lead in a :26.3 opener, then rushed to the top for Andy Miller and settled on the lead well before the half in :54.1. The three-quarters went by in 1:22.3 as Boudoir Hanover remained in the pocket and Always B First attacked first-over, but neither were the equal of Max Contract and her :27 last quarter, with Boudoir Hanover closest to the winner at the finish, three-quarters of a length behind, with Always B First another two lengths back. The victory was the third of the year in four starts and tenth in sixteen lifetime outings for Max Contract, who was making her first start since winning the Betsy Ross here on May 28. The Julie Miller trainee now has lifetime earnings of $354,639 for Andy Miller Stable Inc. and Jean Goehlen. Another pacing mare beating 1:50 was the Always A Virgin mare Always Gonna B You, who took a new mark of 1:49.4 (“fast” surface) while boosting her lifetime bankroll to $406,567 for trainer Joe Holloway and owners Roll The Dice Stable and Val D’Or Farms. It was a green-and-yellow stretch battle as pacesetting favorite Wine N Dine Me (Tim Tetrick) tried to resist the closing Always Gonna B You (Corey Callahan), with the latter mare getting the nod by a half-length. Todd McCarthy led the Philly drivers on the afternoon with three triumphs. The racing week closes at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday with a 12:40 card. Featured will be a $20,000 Open handicap pace, with the assignment of the outside in the field of six going to Southwind Gendry, who won his last start right at Philly in 1:47.2 – the fastest mile ever at Philly, or at least for 79 minutes until Ruthless Hanover lowered the standard to 1:46.3. There will also be a carryover of $1687.45 on the Pick-5 wager on races five through nine. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html. |
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May 2024
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