WISE PROFESSOR IN FRONT OF PHILLY FEATURE FIELD

By: Jerry Connors, Jr. 
CHESTER PA – Wise Professor, a Bettor’s Wish mare, set the pace in her last start and, despite coming her own last half in :53.4, still got photoed out; in the $14,000 featured distaff pace at Harrah’s Philadelphia, the Professor got a pocket trip and “only” had to close in :55 in the heat of the afternoon to notch the victory in 1:51.2.
 
Simon Allard left alertly with Wise Professor before yielding to Perfidious Crown near the :26.4 quarter, then rode in the golden chair through midsplits of :56.1 and 1:24. Still fresh when moved inside the pacesetter for the stretch drive, the mare from the barn of Per Engblom (who has a narrow lead atop the Philly standings) produced a :27.1 quarter to overhaul Perfidious Crown by half length; Two Twenty Swift, the favorite, rallied well but had to settle for third, another three parts of a length in arrears of the winner, who is owned by W J Donovan.
 
There were also two $12,000 paces for fillies and mares one level below the featured performers.
 
In the faster division, driver William Carter and the Papi Rob Hanover three-year-old filly Amira Hanover surrendered the lead to favored Carry Back and were content to sit in the pocket. Entering the stretch, Carter and the winning filly swung to the left, and she produced a :27.2 last quarter  at the end of the 1:52 mile to win by a half length – not over the chalk, who had to be content with third, but over 45-1 shot Funky Billie Chin, who had to go the rough uncovered trip and was unlucky to have been outkicked. The Joe Bongiorno-conditioned winner is owned by Let It Ride Stables Inc., Joe Sbrocco, and In The Gym Partners.
 
The Perfect Sting sophomore filly Napalm had been racing well from off-the-pace but coming up just shy out-of-town. Those tactics didn’t figure to serve her well at speed-favoring Philly, but Tim Tetrick is the track’s leading driver for a reason – he got Napalm on the move coming off the first turn and grabbed the top as the field entered the second bend, and Napalm took it from there with a :27.4 last quarter to reduce her mark to 1:52.4. Nik Drennan trains the talented miss for Joseph Davino, Patrick O’Brien, and Brad Shackman.
 
Simon Allard and Brad Chisholm guided three winners home on the afternoon; Corey Callahan and Tim Tetrick had two sulky successes. Doubles on the conditioning side were notched by Joe Bongiorno (to reduce Per Eriksson’s meet lead to one) and Linda Toscano.
 
The racing week concludes at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday at 12:40, with developing pacing horses in the featured races. The Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series return to Philly this coming Thursday (August 6), with $211,894 on the lines in Keystone-sired action for two-year-old trotting fillies racing their second preliminary. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.