CHESTER PA – The three pacing winners of the four $12,600 featured events on Wednesday at Harrah’s Philadelphia all took lifetime marks in their events designed for up-and-coming horses.
Fastest winner was the Sweet Lou sophomore gelding Tapped Teen, who won by seven lengths in 1:51.2 in one of the two splits for male pacers. Favored Comanche Creek broke before the start, but as powerful a performance as Tapped Teen gave, the former may not have been able to contend in any instance, as Todd McCarthy moved “Teen” to the lead past the quarter then rolled him home in :55.2. Trainer/owner Aaron Lambert had the three-year-old in peak form coming off of a scratch and a break before that.
Driver Joe Bongiorno took advantage of a second opportunity in winning with the Sweet Lou filly Briar in the headliner for distaffs. Bongiorno initially sat in third at the half as the outer tier formed, but when the first-over broke down the back Briar was out and scurrying forward, first putting away pacesetter Natchez Belle, then withstanding inside closer Lyons Softassilk, with the final margin a head in the 1:53.2 - :55.2 mile. Ron Coyne Jr. conditions the winning sophomore, successful the last time she raced at this level, for his Ron Coyne Stables Inc. along with Blair Corbeil, Mike McAllister, and Edward Pachuta.
Only the trotting feature did not yield a lifetime best, but it yielded an impressive effort nonetheless from the Cantab Hall mare Billie Claire in 1:55. Front-end tactics again proved successful for Simon Allard here, with favored Sweet Bouquets coming to level terms in midstretch, only to see Billie Claire resurge to win by a neck for trainer Jonas Czernyson and the partnership of Consus Racing Stable Inc. and Inev Stable Inc, who were glad to see the mare mind her manners after some recent deportment issues.
“Trottin’ Thursday” at Harrah’s Philadelphia will feature two $14,400 divisions of the “nw 5 races” class along with a $13,000 contest for the fast-class older set. Post time is 12:25 p.m.; program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.