Masseto strong in $12,000 Philly Trot

CHESTER PA – Masseto (Huntsville) made a well-moved time to the lead early in the backstretch in the $12,000 featured trot Friday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, then was able to keep the advantage to the wire, finishing a length ahead of Foxy Joyce in a 1:59.3 mile.

Masseto sat well-placed just off a contested lead, then came uncovered past the half and was able to go right by the leader. Foxy Joyce came up in the flow behind Masseto, but he had to settle for second. Anthony Napolitano drove the victorious Walner sophomore gelding for trainer-owner Mike Watson, who acquired the horses recently and now has three wins in his last four starts with him.

2-5 shot Strutsville had the rail in the $11,000 distaff fast-class pace, but two 30-1 shots overcame their outermost slots and grabbed the first two spots early, forcing Strutsville to have to come first-over, with second-choice Odds On  aces Full on her back. Despite the long battle uncovered, Strutsville made the lead in the stretch, then held off the horse behind her by a head in 1:53.4. The Yonkers invader, a three-year-old daughter of Huntsville, was driven by Ridge Warren for trainer Ron Coyne Jr. and owners Nancy Retzlaff and Douglas Stout.

MASSETO REPLAY

Jack Pelling and Ridge Warren each drove three winners on the Friday program.

Philly closes out its racing card with a 12:40 first race post on Sunday, featuring an excellent $16,000 fast-class handicap pace and a carryover into the Pick 5 pool. The track will then race on a Friday-Sunday-Wednesday schedule the last two weeks of the year, with both Fridays at 12:25 and both Sundays at 12:40, but different post times for the cards one day in front of the holidays: Christmas Eve at 12 noon, and New Year’s Eve at 4 p.m. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

From the PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia