CHESTER PA – A trio of $12,800 events for up-and-coming trotters and pacers highlighted the Friday card at Harrah’s Philadelphia, and all three saw the favorite move to the lead early and then go on to reduce their lifetime marks.
The winner in the headliner for pacing males, the Somebeachsomewhere colt Komodo Beach, had to do the most work to control the throttle, as he was looped leaving and persevered with the guidance of Todd McCarthy to the get the lead under the wire the first time. A final half of :55.3 was enough to keep Komodo Beach on the road to a 1:52.3 victory in his second start of the year for trainer Brett Pelling and the ownership of David McDuffee, John Fodera, Steven Wienick, and Trevor Ritchie.
Troy Beyer had the most successful day among the drivers with three victories, two for trainer Noel Daley.
Harrah’s Philadelphia will be racing a special live card on Kentucky Derby Saturday at 12:40 p.m., with double-gaited fans welcome to stay on and watch the Bluegrass proceedings via simulcast. The latest Ontario horseman to visit Philly during that province’s virus shutdown, Bob McClure, is down for action on the Saturday card, including a drive behind the promising three-year-old trotter Inaminute Hanover – for the same connections with whom he teamed to win the 2019 Hambletonian with Forbidden Trade. Program pages for these cards will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.