CHESTER PA – Three-year-olds Quick Snap and Galleria Hanover emerged victorious in the $12,600 featured paces on a warm Friday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Quick Snap, a son of Betting Line and Kate Can’t Wait (who has all kinds of solid moneywinners in her maternal line) posted three seconds in his only 2021 starts, and now he has three wins in his only 2022 starts after winning the featured event for males in 1:52.3, eleven days after winning in 1:50 at Pocono. Driver Andrew McCarthy let the early battle play out to and past a :27.4 opener, then moved Quick Snap out to take command entering the lower turn. Middle splits of :56.2 and 1:24.2 came before Quick Snap finished out well to defeat pocketsitter One Of The Guys by 1¾ lengths for trainer Tony Alagna (he of the .605 UTR at Philly) and owners Let It Ride Stables Inc., Bottom Line Racing LLC, M T Pockets Stables, and Alagna Racing LLC.
Madeira Hanover, coming off a second and a first against PA Stallion Series competition, proved an easy three length winner over Somesweetsomewhere in 1:52.4 in the feature for distaffs. She won in a similar fashion to Quick Snap: George Napolitano Jr. moved her to the lead past a :27.4 quarter, got some rest to a :57 midpoint, then passed the three-quarters in 1:24.3 before drawing off. Madeira Hanover is by Always B Miki out of Gallie By The Beach, the dam a winner of almost $750,000 and herself a product of Somebeachsomewhere out of the great Galleria, and is trained by Ron Burke for W J Donovan, Purnel & Libby LLC, and Joe Sbrocco.
John Calabrese won two of the four American Harness Drivers Club paces for amateur drivers; other winners in the AHDC were Juan Cano and Johnathan Ahle, the latter also winning a race against “open” driving competition.
Sunday’s 12:40 card at Philly has an interesting mix of younger stock, fast-class veterans, and three divisions of the top claiming handicap pacers, offering a challenge to all handicappers and bettors. Program pages are available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.