A trio of $11,200 events for developing younger horses, two on the trot and one on the pace, headed the Friday afternoon action at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
The pacing contest headed the afternoon’s proceedings, and the Western Ideal sophomore colt Buy In headed the race for most of the mile, pacing twin :56 halves en route to the 1:52 victory. Tony Morgan guided the youngster, who is now 2-for-3 since teaming up with trainer Scott Di Domenico and the ownership of Triple D Stables Inc. and Tim Tetrick LLC.
In the first of the featured trots, the lightly-raced Explosive Matter gelding Baldaquin made a big three-wide move around the far turn, got the lead in the stretch, then held off an inside charge by Sweet Heart AS by a half length to equal his lifetime mark of 1:56.1. Marcus Miller handled the four-year-old, who has now won his last two starts and half of his eight lifetime outings, for trainer Louise Pepin and owner Steven Bryden.
In the other trot, the Lionhunter sophomore filly Catwalk AS found room along the inside and drove through to lower her mark to 1:56.2. The Kentucky Fair Champion in her division, Catwalk AS is trained by Anette Lorentzon for owners ACL Stuteri AB and Kjell Johansson, and the win contributed to red-hot driver George Napolitano Jr.’s accumulation of seven victories during the card.
In the $10,000 fast-class pace, the Western Ideal gelding JJ Flynn pushed an early foe hard before yielding for the pocket, vacated that spot on the far turn and went to the stretch lead, then held off the late bid of favoured Semi Tough by a neck in 1:51. Tony Morgan drove the winner of $506,742 for trainer Josh Green, who is also co-owner with Rich Lombardo Racing LLC and Charles Cochran III.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)