Hill Of A Horse is King of the Hill

CHESTER, PA – Yonkers harness rawcing invader Hill Of A Horse made short work of a good field in the $14,400 featured trot at Harrah’s Philadelphia Thursday afternoon, moving to the lead in front of the grandstand and then stepping home in :56 flat to stop the timer in 1:55.2.

Reduced to a field of five with the scratch of the fast mare Refined, the headliner saw Armagedon Seelster get top early positioning from his outside starting slot (the #1 berth from which to leave at Philly), with Hill Of A Horse and driver Marcus Miller briefly settling behind that one to the :28.2 quarter, then brushing to command and stealing a soft half of :59.2.

They would have needed wings to catch the 2-5 favorite from there, with the Muscle Hill gelding hitting the three-quarters in 1:27.4 and then powering home in :27.3, 4¼ lengths clear of Armagedon Seelster, who held second over Bluebird Jesse. Trained by Erv Miller for Andray Farms, Hill Of A Horse surpassed the quarter-million dollar career plateau with the triumph, his figure now $255,912.

HILL OF A HORSE REPLAY

In the $12,800 co-feature for developing trotters, the photo finish camera could not separate frontstepping favorite Manatlas and gritty first-over mare Heat Wave Hanover, who tied for the 1:55 victory. Manatlas, an E L Titan gelding, had last been second to Hambletonian winner Forbidden Pleasure in the 2019 Ontario Sire Stakes Super Final before a comeback victory at Dover last week; Mark MacDonald drove him here for trainer Wayne Givens and the partnership of Legacy Racing of DE Inc., Reggie Hazzard II, and Gary Calloway. Heat Wave Hanover, a daughter of Sebastian K S, showed her determination by battling to the dead heat for the sister-brother team of trainer Jennifer and driver Joe Bongiorno and owner Robert Weinstein.

DEAD HEAT FINISH REPLAY

Friday’s action at Harrah’s Philly starts at 12:25 p.m.; program pages will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.

For full race results, click here.

From the PHHA/Harrah’s Philadelphia