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CHESTER, PA – Shuffle Up Hanover (Betting Line), a sophomore colt out of a full sister to Somebeachsomewhere, won over a “good +1” surface in 1:55.3 as Harrah’s Philadelphia saw its first racetrack action of 2023 in Friday morning (March 24) harness racing qualifiers.
The three-year-old went wire-to-wire in winning for driver Andrew McCarthy, defending Philly training champion Per Engblom, and Morrison Racing Stables. McCarthy had the only double in the horsemen’s colony on the day.
2022’s winningest driver at Philly, Tim Tetrick, also tallied in the Friday qualifiers, guiding the millionaire Western Ideal gelding Western Joe from last at the three-quarters to stop the clock in 1:57 for trainer Chris Choate and owners Anthony Ruggeri and Richard Tosies.
Another set of qualifiers are scheduled for Tuesday the 28th, with horses for that session declaring in the day before by 10 a.m.
Harrah’s Philadelphia will open its seventeenth season of harness racing on Sunday, April 2 at 12:40, with the basic weekly schedule to start that meet being Thursdays and Fridays at 12:25 p.m. and Sundays at 12:40. Two early exceptions will be Easter Sunday, April 9, when the track will be dark for live racing, and Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 6, when the trotters and pacers will put on a live performance at 12:40.
Wednesdays will be added to the basic schedule on May 17, and the four-card-a-week format will go on until the end of August.
The draw will follow the traditional schedule: Tuesday morning for Friday, Wednesday morning for Sunday, Thursday morning for Wednesday (when added), and Friday morning for Thursday.
The traditional strong card on the day before Memorial Day, on Sunday, May 28, will present both the three traditional $100,000 races for Invitational horses – the Maxie Lee for trotters, the Betsy Ross for pacing mares, and the Commodore Barry for pacing males – and a preliminary of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes/Stallion Series for the glamour division, the three-year-old pacing males. The sophomores will be back at Philly on the day before Labor Day, when on September 2 the Championships and consolations for Pennsylvania-sired sophomores will headline a $1.3 million day.
For complete race results, click here.
