Whoodle Hanover wire to wire at Philly

CHESTER PA – Whoodle Hanover (Cantab Hall), 20-1 in the morning line but perhaps being aided by the scratch of the two harness racing favorites and three foes in all, capitalized on her situation, making every pole a winning one in capturing the $12,000 featured trot on a cold Sunday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

WHOODLE HANOVER REPLAY

Jim Pantaleano was in the sulky behind the Cantab Hall sophomore filly as she took command on the first turn, set the fractions as she pleased, and then held off the late bids of Craft Brew Lindy and Unique Wedding, both fanning wide in the stretch but unable to overhaul the winner in the 1:59 mile. Neal Ehrhart, the only training doubler on the day (both driven by Pantaleano, who wound up with four sulky successes), conditions the winner for owner Jaypaul Hoover.

Pantaleano also was in the sulky behind probably the most impressive winner of the day, the Royalty For Life trotting gelding Warrawee Xalt, who followed an Ottawa-Toronto-Philly itinerary and then fronted his field with giant numbers on the chilly day to win in an impressive 1:53.3.

Hunter Oakes was successful at first asking with the good-looking addition to his barn, who is owned by Patrick Dillon and Patti Hoskin.

WARRAWEE XALT

 

George Napolitano Jr., the eight-time leading dashwinning driver at Philly, had five victories on the day, all for different trainers, and by a total of 24 lengths. Napolitano has 421 wins in Pennsylvania this year between Philly and Pocono, more wins in 2024 within the Keystone State than anybody, and ranks eighth in the North American drivers dash totals.

For the final two weeks of the 2024 schedule, Harrah’s Philadelphia switches to a Friday / Sunday / pre-holiday Tuesday pattern, with Friday’s first post remaining 12:25 and Sunday’s 12:40; the Christmas Eve card will start at noon, and the New Year’s Eve card will start at 4 p.m.

Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.

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

From the PHHA/Harrah’s Philadelphia