Quill, Stillwell score Freehold AHDC Trot wins

FREEHOLD, N.J.— Seamus Quill romped and Jacob Stillwell popped pocket to score in their respective $7,500 harness racing divisions of the American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC) Trot at Freehold Raceway on Saturday (Dec. 21).

Quill registered a pillar-to-post victory with 8-5 favorite Candy Bomber (Tactical Landing) in a 2:02.3 mile.

Once taking the lead from post 2, Quill carved a clip of :31.1, 1:02.2 and 1:32.1 over the sloppy track and expanded his lead throughout. He opened three lengths on pocket-chaser Hunters Gal (driven by William Clark Jr.) moving for the final turn and wrapped the mile with a 5-1/4-length win.

Im The Muscle (Joe Lee) rallied from second over for second while Hunters Gal settled for third and Winneress (Anthony Verruso) rallied from a ground-saving trip for fourth.

CANDY BOMBER REPLAY

Ron Coyne Jr. trains Candy Bomber, a 4-year-old gelding by Tactical Landing, for owner Jaypaul Hoover. He paid $5.20 to win.

Jacob Stillwell landed a 7-1 upset in the other AHDC division guiding Exchequer (Cash Hall) to a 2:02.2 win.

Stillwell seated his charge in the pocket as pylon-starter All Rise (Tony Beltrami) took command to a :29.2 first quarter. Even-money favorite Classic Playter (Geovany Hernandez) mounted a first-over challenge into a 1:00.2 half and upped his pressure moving to three-quarters in 1:31. Classic Playter and All Rise remained in battle spinning for home while Exchequer darted through the open stretch with fresh legs to seize the lead and a length victory at the beam. Classic Playter took second from All Rise while With A Warning (Neil Glasser), from a second-over trip, took fourth.

EXCHEQUER REPLAY

Vincent Ginsburg owns and trains Exchequer, a 7-year-old gelding. He paid $16.20 to win.

AHDC action resumes on Sunday (Dec. 22) at Harrah’s Philadelphia. First-race post time is 12:40 p.m. (EST).

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

by Ray Cotolo, for the AHDC