Svanstedt sweeps Philly trots

CHESTER PA – Harness racing trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt burnished his already-fine statistics at Harrah’s Philadelphia (.392 UDR / .481 UTR) by winning both of the $12,000 featured events on the trot and also an $11,000 event for fast-class horses of hat gait on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 22).

In the high-purse trots, It was the sophomore colt Mr Bluebird (Six Pack) who went slightly faster, 1:54.3. The winner got to the quarter in :27.4, got a Svanstedt breather to the :58.1 half, then went on to a 1:26.3 three-quarters and a last quarter of :28 to win for Åke Svanstedt Inc., Little E LLC, and Torbjorn Swahn Inc.

MR BLUEBIRD REPLAY

The three-year-old colt Edvard Palema S (Readly Express) earned a lifetime mark of 1:54.4 in taking his division despite missing 33 days. Edvard Palema S went to command past a :28.1 quarter, posted midrace times of :57.2 and 1:26.1, then finished out in :28.3 for Bender Sweden Inc., Åke Svanstedt Inc., and Flygind Gard Inc.

EDVARD PALEMA S REPLAY

There was also a division of the $12,000 featured class carded for male pacers. In it, driver Tim Tetrick sensed a slowdown on the front end after a :27 quarter and rushed up the sophomore gelding to be in charge by the half in a mild :58. From there, the rest of the field could have no impact on Sudden Impact (Captaintreacherous), who hit the three-quarters in 1:25.1 and sped on to a new mark of 1:52.4. Scott Di Domenico trains the winner for his Triple D Stables and Michael Rekoon.

SUDDEN IMPACT REPLAY

Fastest of all the Svanstedt trotting victories was the 1:52.2 victory hung up by Kierkegaard K (Chapter Seven) in the fast-class event, as the Swede Svanstedt certainly had no problem with a horse named after a Danish philosopher and owned by a resident of Singapore (Knutsson Trotting Inc.’s Tristan Sjoberg). The only geography Kierkegaard K needed was the shortest way home, on the lead through fractions of :27.3, :56, and 1:24.3.

KIERKEGAARD K REPLAY

Svanstedt and Tetrick tied for sulky honors with three wins on the day; Svanstedt was the only trainer to harness three winning horses.

Filly and mare pacers will be the headliners for Friday’s 12:25 card, which will also have a carryover into the fifth race Pick 5 wager, and then on Sunday at 12:40, Pennsylvania-sired two-year-old pacing colts will get their last chance to qualify for their upcoming Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series Championships, with three divisions of the PaSS crew and five fields of the StS horses. 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