Father-son team take double at Freehold

Freehold, NJ — The father-son duo of trainer Brett Pelling and driver Jack Pelling teamed up twice at Freehold Raceway on Saturday (December 11).

They scored together with Reigning Deo in race 7, then won the featured Preferred Handicap pace with the long shot Hail Christian N.

Leaving from post position seven in the eight-horse field, Pelling took Hail Christian N off the lead, dropping him in seventh throughout the early stages of the race. The early leaders, led by favored Rockin M, set an opening quarter of 27.1 seconds, followed by a first half-mile of 57.1 seconds.

As they moved up the backstretch the final time, the field began to bunch up.  Pelling moved Hail Christian N off the pylons and grabbed cover third-over.

Entering the stretch, Hail Christian N was still about five lengths off the lead and racing in the four-path. However, Hail Christian N had all the momentum, and he flew on the outside late to win by 3/4 of a length. The final time over a good track was 1:54.3. He went off at odds of 8-1 and paid $19.20 to win

Hail Christian N is owned by Harcourt Lodge Stables. He’s won four times this year from eighteen starts, with earnings of more than $64,000.

HAIL CHRISTIAN N REPLAY

Live racing continues at Freehold on Friday (December 17), starting at 12:30 PM. There’s three more days left of live racing in 2021, with racing on December 18 and December 31 to conclude the 2021 season.

For full race results, click here.

From Freehold Raceway