On a chilly, blustery day at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday, Dec. 12 Resolve To Win got the best trip among the main contenders and won the $21,127 Winners Over Trot in 1:55.3.

There was quite a donnybrook early despite the cold, with Eurobond (Rikard Skoglund) leaving and keeping Resolve To Win (Corey Callahan) parked past a :27.3 quarter, with Benjamin Hanover, the favourite despite the outside post and a 27-day layoff, following early cover for Tim Tetrick then working hard under tapping to pass that rival only just before the :56.4 half (the stretch headwind was more pronounced early than late, and this was the first race). Benjamin Hanover kept the lead to the 1:25 three-quarters and was forced to deal with a first-over move from Donato Patriot K. (George Napolitano Jr.)

In the lane it was apparent that the winner would be either the first-over or the pocket horse, and it was Resolve To Win to reach home first, a length to the good of Donato Patriot K. Callahan drove the Resolve gelding to his second straight victory, and fourth in his last six starts, for trainer Jeff Cullipher and owner Pollack Racing LLC.

Trainer Per Engblom teamed with driver Kasper Foget to win at first asking with two Scandinavian trotters making their U.S. bows. One came in the $19,718 co-featured event for horses on the rise, as the Bold Eagle mare Golden Rain S made an early move to take over the throttle and went on to a 1:56.1 victory for owner Thomas Lind-Holm. The other Engblom-Foget import went even faster as the Readly Express gelding Furst Igor S made a quick adjustment to racing on the west side of the Atlantic, never looking back in 1:56, with ownership of this promising horse shared by Foget and Engblom Stable LLC.

In a thrilling battle between two speedy sophomore fillies, the Walner miss Sapphinerainstar yielded to a :27.3 backstretch brush of Only I Exist, who was going for her 17th win in a row over two years after breaking in her career bow, but then Sapphinerainstar courageously rallied back late as the favourite shortened a bit, winning by a nose in 1:55.3 for A 1 Racing, driver Simon Allard and trainer Mark Akins.

The live card of harness racing on Friday, Dec. 13 features a $21,127 fast-class pace matching last week’s feature winner A Rocknroll Star; Macs Delight, a horse who has shown his quality here in the past; and Teddy Disco A, who looked powerful in his first start after coming from Down Under. First post time is 12:25 p.m.

(PHHA / Harrah's Philadelphia)