Top pacer makes return in Philly qualifier

CHESTER, PA – One of the speediest harness racing pacers anywhere, the Somebeachsomewhere six-year-old gelding Ruthless Hanover, made his 2023 debut a successful one during Tuesday morning (Mar. 28) qualifiers at Harrah’s Philadelphia, going wire-to-wire in 1:52.2 – :27.2 for driver George Napolitano Jr., trainer Tom Cancelliere, and brother/owner John Cancelliere.

Ruthless Hanover was a three-time winner in the Graduate Series at age four, and won late-season fast-class paces right here at Philly. Of course, he is best remembered locally for his effort on September 4 last year in an Invitational, where he put up supersonic fractions of :25, :51.4, and 1:19.1, then finished second behind Allywag Hanover’s 1:47.3 clocking, which equaled the all-time track record of Wiggle It Jiggleit.

Two owner/trainer/driver teams succeeded with a pair of three-year-olds, one on each gait. Purple Haze Stables LLC, trainer Trond Smedshammer, and driver Joe Bongiorno were victorious with the trotting colts Sevecheetah (Chapter Seven – White Cheetah, 2:00.3) and Chapercraz (Crazy Wow – Chaperess, 1:58.3). On the pacing side, driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Mark Harder won with a par of American Ideal fillies, Silky Stride (dam Silk Pajamas, 1:58.4) and Team Colors (dam Sir Jillian Z Tam, 1:56); both fillies are co-owned by Dean Lockhart and Wayne Carleton, with trainer Harder and Deena Frost also sharing a piece of the ownership on the former filly.

The first card of the 2023 season at Harrah’s Philadelphia is set for this Sunday, April 2, at 12:40, with the races for the opener to be drawn Wednesday morning. Program pages for all Philly cards are or will be available by clicking here, as will replays of the qualifying races.

For complete qualifier results, click here.

From the PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia