Sophomore pacers impress in PASS action at Philly

CHESTER PA – Two-year-old pacing males provided spirited harness racing at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 25) as they battled for points and a high place in the standings in the last preliminary round of their Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series before their rich early September Championships.

$187,712 was on line during the three divisions of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action. The only successful non-favorite and non-double PaSS winner recorded the fastest time:  the gelding Dreamboat Hanover (Papi Rob Hanover – Dagnabit Hanover), who after close Sire Stakes finishes put it all together to take a new mark of 1:50.3. Driver Todd Schadel sent his colt up between horses early to the lead and never looked back, putting up splits of :27, :56, and 1:23.1, then keeping favored Papi’s Rocket safe by 2¼ lengths. Todd’s son Cody trains the “family affair” horse, who is owned by his father and mother Christine in partnership with Timothy Hayes and Dr. Megan Moschgat.

DREAMBOAT HANOVER REPLAY

The other two Sires winners were colts who are sons of Sweet Lou. Go Go Grasshopper (Sweet Lou – Faster Faster) also took the engine route for driver-trainer Joe Bongiorno, with fractions of :27.2, :56, and 1:22.4 preceding a final clocking of 1:50.4, which equaled his lifetime best. Inflation Proof was 2½ lengths in second behind the winner, who is owned by Let It Ride Stables Inc., Odds On Racing, and JB Racing.

GO GO GRASSHOPPER REPLAY

The other son of Sweet Lou winning in the upper category was Railroad Station (Sweet Lou – Rodeo Rosie), whose 1:51.2 winning time was actually the slowest victory of his three-win career, as he had won an All-Stars at Pocono and a PaSS at The Meadows in 1:51.1. Railroad Station sat in the two-hole a long way under a hard hold by driver David Miller as Wedlock Blue Chip set fractions of :26.4, :55.4, and 1:24, then was finally given his head by Miller nearing the far turn. The colt worked past the pacesetter by 1¾ lengths for trainer Ron Burke and the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Hatfield Stables, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby.

RAILROAD STATION REPLAY

In contrast to the Sire Stakes races, the five $20,000 divisions of Stallion Series racing saw the fastest time posted by the only winning favorite: I’m The One (Papi Rob Hanover), who headed a 1-2-3 finish for sire with a win in 1:51.1, a tick faster than his StS success at The Meadows in his last start. Tim Tetrick, the track’s leading driver for the meet and for the day (four wins Sunday) sulkysat behind the winning gelding (dam Lifetime Trust) for trainer Brett Pelling, giving Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Odds On Racing a second stakes win (there’s more coming), this one in partnership with Enviro Stables LTD.

I’M THE ONE REPLAY

Papi Rob Hanover had a second Stallion Series win and a third on the stakes day when the gelding Makes Sense (Papi Rob Hanover) grinded to a lifetime best of 1:52 in only his third start for trainer Robert Cleary and – there they are again – Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Odds On Racing, this time in partnership with trainer Cleary and Carl Howard.

Makes Sense was one of three Stallion Series wins for driver Todd McCarthy, two of them for the successful teaming of Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Odds On Racing – Makes Sense and Twisted Destiny, a Bettor’s Wish – Tug River Princess ridgling, who took a new mark of 1:51.4 in his second consecutive StS victory for trainer Chris Ryder. That’s four stakes on the day for Let It Ride and Odds On.

McCarthy also guided to victory a colt by Sweet Lou, which gave that sire three stakes wins on the day. This winner was Mad River (Sweet Lou – Reckless Fool), who in his first Stallion Series start laid off a hot pace then closed to take a new mark of 1:52.1 mark for his second straight success. Joe Holloway is the trainer for Val D’Or Farms.

 The final StS winner was the colt Jackson Cooper (Captaintreacherous – Hidden Land), who picked a good time to break his maiden, pacing in 1:53.4 for driver Austin Siegelman, trainer Matthew Medeiros, and Jesmeral Stable.

The Standardbred division of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission is the official body responsible for determining pointstandings and thus eligibility for the Championships; final point totals and eligibility should be checked with them, but give them a few hours on Monday – the Sire Stakes appears to have a tie for the final spots, and the Stallion Series eligibles look to have a four-way tie in points for the last two spots according to unofficial calculations. The freshman Sire Stakes finals are Thursday, September 5 at The Meadows; all eight Stallion Series Championships will be raced on Sunday, September 8 at Harrah’s Philly.

Driver Austin Siegelman, in a rare local appearance, not only had a Stallion Series winner, but he guided seven-year-old Hemsworth N (Sweet Lou) to a 1:48.3 victory in the $15,000 fast-class handicap pace. Siegelman yielded the early lead to Backstreet Shadow wand was content to follow the millionaire in the pocket with his gelding, then moved him outside for the stretch drive and won out by three-quarters of a length for trainer Jared Bako and 1362313 Ontario LTD.

The monopoly some entities seemed to have at Philly on Sunday (Let It Ride / Odds On, Papi Rob Hanover / Sweet Lou) also extended to the drivers colony: Tetrick had four, Todd McCarthy three, Siegelman and Bongiorno two along with Tony Morgan. After the fifth race on the 15-race card, no driver but these five entered Victory Lane. The trainers ledger was more equitable, with only Chuck Crissman Jr. doubling on the day.

Racing resumes at Philly on “Trottin’ Thursday” with a 12:25 first post. Free Philly programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.

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

From the PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia