CHESTER PA – Seven of the nine non-feature races held at Harrah’s Philadelphia over off going on Friday afternoon saw the leader at the half go on to victory – but such was the case in none of the three featured races, each worth $12,600.
On the trot, the Andover Hall gelding Choco’s Choice was kept third-inside by driver David Miller (who led the local driving colony Friday with three winners), then was sent up the passing lane to post a two length victory over 23-1 shot Integer in 1:58.1. The winner has now won four of his last seven starts for trainer Jim Groff and owner Bernard O’Brien.
In the distaff pacing feature, Rocket Roulette worked behind the cover of first-up Fasterthanarumor, who took over the lead from favored Skyy on the far turn but then could not hold off the horse on her back as Rocket Roulette won by 1¾ lengths in a lifetime best of 1:55. On the largely-formful day, Rocket Roulette’s $101.80 win mutuel was more than the combined payoffs of the other eleven winners, with Mike Simons engineering the upset behind the Cam’s Rocket mare for trainer John Marsh and owner Carolin Oglesby.
The last card of the racing week at Harrah’s Philadelphia will take place Sunday at 12:40. Featured is a $13,000 pace that sees 2019 Little Brown Jug winner Southwind Ozzi drop in class and start as the 5-2 favorite; also on the card will be an event for the American Harness Drivers Club of amateur horsepeople. Program pages for Sunday’s card are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.