 Photo: Curtis Salonick |  Photo: Grace Zimmers |
By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
CHESTER PA – This Sunday afternoon (May 25) Harrah’s Philadelphia will be proud to present as good a card of racing as has been seen in North America so far in 2025, with $661,766 in purses to be contested during the track’s annual marquee “Super Sunday” program, featuring 16 star-studded races beginning at 12:40 p.m.
Following is a brief overview of the three centerpiece $100,000 Invitational races for the most talented established performers in the sport, along with third preliminary round action of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes / Stallion Series racing for the “glamour division,” the three-year-old pacing males, and other top races on the talent-packed Super Sunday card:
$100,000 BETSY ROSS INVITATIONAL PACE for mares (race 13)
The five-year-old mare Twin B Joe Fresh, the 2024 Dan Patch award winner as Horse of the Year, will be making her2025 debut in the Betsy Ross, starting from post five in an eight-horse field for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Chris Ryder. Twin B Joe Fresh, a career double millionaire, is also the defending champion in the Betsy Ross, having covered the mile in a stakes record 1:48.2 in capturing last year’s event, as she has prepped sharply for this season with three winning qualifiers.
Starting just to the right of Twin B Joe Fresh is another Dan Patch Award winner from last year, My Girl EJ. This mare was last year’s three-year-old pacing filly Dan Patch Award winner, and Sunday she will step up to face more seasoned opposition for trainer Andrew Harris and driver Todd McCarthy. “EJ” already has a 1:50.2 winning qualifier this season, and last year as a sophomore she finished a good second to Twin B Joe Fresh in the season-ending Fan Duel pace for females.
$100,000 JOSEPH AUGER MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL PACE (race 12)
Ruthless Hanover became the fastest pacer ever over a 5/8-mile track when he toured the Philly oval in 1:46.3 while winning the 2023 Auger, then came back last year to take his second straight victory in the race, in 1:47.2. He has won two qualifiers locally in preparation for this, his seasonal debut, the faster of the two in 1:51. But the pacer, driven by George Napolitano Jr. (atop the Philly standings) for trainer Tom Cancelliere, will have to deal with the difficult outside post eight if he is to three-peat.
Besides the bad post, there is also the obstacle of Abuckabett Hanover, 2024 Dan Patch award winner for older pacing horses and the winner in his last two starts of that year, the Potomac and the Fan Duel, with Ruthless Hanover second both times. Like Twin B Joe Fresh, a lifetime double millionaire, Abuckabett Hanover will also be going to the gate for the first time in the current campaign, starting from post three for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Andrew Harris.
$100,000 MAXIE LEE MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL TROT (race 11)
The two trotters to beat on paper in the Lee have drawn post one and two, and both are Swedish imports. Innermost is Antognoni S, an eight-time winner already in 2025 and the Brennan Trotting Series Champion, coming off of a third as the favorite in the Cutler Trot after being hard-used to get the lead and set the pace. Antognoni S, named after a football (soccer) star in Italy, goes gateward for trainer Ron Burke and driver Yannick Gingras.
Alongside him will be Aetos Kronos S, a recent arrival from Europe who has earned $.49 million and who started in last year’s prestigious Prix D’Amerique. Aetos Kronos S showed he fits in with the very best American trotters competing when he ripped off a 1:51.3 clocking at The Meadowlands in only his third start on these shores. Dexter Dunn will have the driving assignment for trainer Marcus Melander.
PENNSYLVANIA SIRE STAKES AND STALLION SERIES, three-year-old pacing males
$261,766 will be raced for by the best of the Keystone-sired sophomores, with three divisions of Sire Stakes and seven Stallion Series sections in the penultimate leg of the two programs’ preliminaries.
The Sire Stakes will go in races 5, 7, and 10, and the most attention will likely go to the latest of the three because it contains Louprint, Dan Patch award winner at two and the only double winner in the two Sire Stakes legs to date. Louprint has post three for driver Ron Wrenn Jr. and trainer Ron Burke. This tenth race will also be the opening leg of a Pick 4 wager with a $10,000 guaranteed pool, with the three Invitationals following right along behind rounding out the vertical wager.
Among the other promising horses in the Sire Stakes races Sunday are Go Go Grasshopper, Twisted Destiny, and Wedlock Blue Chip, each of whom has a Sire Stakes leg to his credit.
Among the Stallion Series races, Odds On Outlier was the only double winner in the first two StS prelims. He’s among the entrants in race 15, starting from post five for driver Peter Wrenn and trainer Melanie Wrenn.
THE OTHER HIGH-CLASS RACES on SUPER SUNDAY
There will be a $50,000 Invitational Pace, the #senditin, on race 8 of the card, and a $25,000 Open pace in race 14. An Open trot for $25,000 is slotted for race 3. Thus, all 16 races on the “Super Sunday card” will be Invitationals, Opens, or Sire Stakes/Stallion Series contests – quality from top to bottom.
CHESTER PA – This Sunday afternoon (May 25) Harrah’s Philadelphia will be proud to present as good a card of racing as has been seen in North America so far in 2025, with $661,766 in purses to be contested during the track’s annual marquee “Super Sunday” program, featuring 16 star-studded races beginning at 12:40 p.m.
Following is a brief overview of the three centerpiece $100,000 Invitational races for the most talented established performers in the sport, along with third preliminary round action of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes / Stallion Series racing for the “glamour division,” the three-year-old pacing males, and other top races on the talent-packed Super Sunday card:
$100,000 BETSY ROSS INVITATIONAL PACE for mares (race 13)
The five-year-old mare Twin B Joe Fresh, the 2024 Dan Patch award winner as Horse of the Year, will be making her2025 debut in the Betsy Ross, starting from post five in an eight-horse field for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Chris Ryder. Twin B Joe Fresh, a career double millionaire, is also the defending champion in the Betsy Ross, having covered the mile in a stakes record 1:48.2 in capturing last year’s event, as she has prepped sharply for this season with three winning qualifiers.
Starting just to the right of Twin B Joe Fresh is another Dan Patch Award winner from last year, My Girl EJ. This mare was last year’s three-year-old pacing filly Dan Patch Award winner, and Sunday she will step up to face more seasoned opposition for trainer Andrew Harris and driver Todd McCarthy. “EJ” already has a 1:50.2 winning qualifier this season, and last year as a sophomore she finished a good second to Twin B Joe Fresh in the season-ending Fan Duel pace for females.
$100,000 JOSEPH AUGER MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL PACE (race 12)
Ruthless Hanover became the fastest pacer ever over a 5/8-mile track when he toured the Philly oval in 1:46.3 while winning the 2023 Auger, then came back last year to take his second straight victory in the race, in 1:47.2. He has won two qualifiers locally in preparation for this, his seasonal debut, the faster of the two in 1:51. But the pacer, driven by George Napolitano Jr. (atop the Philly standings) for trainer Tom Cancelliere, will have to deal with the difficult outside post eight if he is to three-peat.
Besides the bad post, there is also the obstacle of Abuckabett Hanover, 2024 Dan Patch award winner for older pacing horses and the winner in his last two starts of that year, the Potomac and the Fan Duel, with Ruthless Hanover second both times. Like Twin B Joe Fresh, a lifetime double millionaire, Abuckabett Hanover will also be going to the gate for the first time in the current campaign, starting from post three for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Andrew Harris.
$100,000 MAXIE LEE MEMORIAL INVITATIONAL TROT (race 11)
The two trotters to beat on paper in the Lee have drawn post one and two, and both are Swedish imports. Innermost is Antognoni S, an eight-time winner already in 2025 and the Brennan Trotting Series Champion, coming off of a third as the favorite in the Cutler Trot after being hard-used to get the lead and set the pace. Antognoni S, named after a football (soccer) star in Italy, goes gateward for trainer Ron Burke and driver Yannick Gingras.
Alongside him will be Aetos Kronos S, a recent arrival from Europe who has earned $.49 million and who started in last year’s prestigious Prix D’Amerique. Aetos Kronos S showed he fits in with the very best American trotters competing when he ripped off a 1:51.3 clocking at The Meadowlands in only his third start on these shores. Dexter Dunn will have the driving assignment for trainer Marcus Melander.
PENNSYLVANIA SIRE STAKES AND STALLION SERIES, three-year-old pacing males
$261,766 will be raced for by the best of the Keystone-sired sophomores, with three divisions of Sire Stakes and seven Stallion Series sections in the penultimate leg of the two programs’ preliminaries.
The Sire Stakes will go in races 5, 7, and 10, and the most attention will likely go to the latest of the three because it contains Louprint, Dan Patch award winner at two and the only double winner in the two Sire Stakes legs to date. Louprint has post three for driver Ron Wrenn Jr. and trainer Ron Burke. This tenth race will also be the opening leg of a Pick 4 wager with a $10,000 guaranteed pool, with the three Invitationals following right along behind rounding out the vertical wager.
Among the other promising horses in the Sire Stakes races Sunday are Go Go Grasshopper, Twisted Destiny, and Wedlock Blue Chip, each of whom has a Sire Stakes leg to his credit.
Among the Stallion Series races, Odds On Outlier was the only double winner in the first two StS prelims. He’s among the entrants in race 15, starting from post five for driver Peter Wrenn and trainer Melanie Wrenn.
THE OTHER HIGH-CLASS RACES on SUPER SUNDAY
There will be a $50,000 Invitational Pace, the #senditin, on race 8 of the card, and a $25,000 Open pace in race 14. An Open trot for $25,000 is slotted for race 3. Thus, all 16 races on the “Super Sunday card” will be Invitationals, Opens, or Sire Stakes/Stallion Series contests – quality from top to bottom.
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