The sophomore Heaven Needs Me, an altered son of Capt Midnight-Heavenly Bet, won for the second straight start in taking the $16,901 conditioned pacing feature for developing horses at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday, Oct. 26.

Heaven Needs Me has been coming from off the pace in recent starts, but today driver Simon Allard sent him right to command, where he put up moderate early fractions of :28.2 and :57. Heaven Needs Me then hit three-quarters in 1:25 and sprinted home in :27.3 to maintain a safe one-length advantage over first-up challenger In The Moonlight (George Napolitano Jr.) while winning in 1:52.3 for trainer Clay Faurot Jr. and owner Chelsey Faurot. Stay Focused (Jonathan Ahle) was third. Heaven Needs Me won for the third time in 14 lifetime outings. He paid $2.80 to win.

Fast-class pacers battled for $15,493 in a race won impressively by the five-year-old Bettors Delight-Sunshine Patriot gelding Leave It To Leo ($12.60) in 1:51.4. The fractions were quick, but Leave It To Leo still had to come uncovered from sixth from just before the half (pacing his third quarter in :26.4). His forward mission never faltered while defeating second-over 41-1 shot Back Pocket Miki (Troy Beyer) by 1-1/4 lengths for driver Corey Callahan, trainer Dylan Davis, and owners Stephen Messick, Michael West and Dylan Davis Racing. Big Gulp (Allard) finished third.

In the $15,493 claiming handicap pace for the top-priced horses at Philly, another Bettors Delight gelding was victorious. Santafes Coach ($4.40), who won a Hempt Pace elimination back in 2017, showed there is plenty of life left in his legs as he took advantage of a pocket trip and was along for a one-length victory in 1:53.2 for driver Anthony Napolitano, who was making a rare Philly appearance. Perfect Promises (George Napolitano) closed for second over Up The Creek (Jack Pelling). Trainer Darren Taneyhill and P T Stable lost the winning 11-year-old gelding out of Thesantafe Express to a $30,986 claim here, but in his four starts for that pair, Santafes Coach had made $14,100, and they also got more than $3,500 over what they paid to acquire him.

Mark Herschberger and George Napolitano Jr. tied for the day’s driving honours with three wins apiece. Two of Herschberger’s scores came for trainer Eddie Sager, the lone conditioning doubler.

Michael Shults and Anthony Verruso won a pair of $10,563 pacing races for the American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC). With a first-over brush toward the last turn, Shults and his trainee Flying Tiger ($9.20) seized the lead and won in 1:59.2. The six-year-old Always B Miki-Bolt Of Thunder gelding is owned by Blazer One Racing. Verruso later won from a first-over move with even-money chalk Iammrbrightside N ($4) in a 1:55 mile. Verruso owns the 15-year-old Julius Caesar-Onedin Spur stallion while Veronica Spicer handles the training duties.

The Liberty Bell Stakes series will be conducted on the next two Thursday and Friday cards at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with two stakes divisions each day. On Thursday, two-year-old colts will be racing for $134,200 USD in aggregate; three-year-old fillies will go on Friday during a card that has a special post time of 2:30 p.m., since it is Breeders' Cup weekend.

(With files from PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia & AHDC)