Skater Chick followed up her score in the 2019 Courageous Lady by taking the fastest of two $30,000 Liberty Bell stakes divisions for three-year-old pacing fillies on Friday (Oct. 24) at Harrah's Philadelphia.
Corey Callahan left with Skater Chick but couldn’t get the lead with his favoured filly until the field went under the wire the first time, but it became a lead that she would not surrender, getting a neck decision in 1:52.1 over two-holer Sweet Lucy Lou for trainer Mark Harder and the ownership of Donald Lindsey, Paul Kleinpaste, and Garth Bechtel.
Rockn Philly, a pacing daughter of A Rocknroll Dance, became the only three-year-old filly to complete a “sweep” of the Simpson and Liberty Bell fall stakes.
Victor Kirby sent Rockn Philly right to the lead, and after reaching the quarter in :27, the pair got a breather to a :57.1 half. From there it was full speed ahead, with Rockn Philly coming home in :55.4 - :27.4 to ward off pocketsitter and favourite Alli Nui by a half-length in the 1:53 mile for trainer Jim King Jr. and the ownership of Tim Tetrick LLC and Jo Ann Looney-King. Rockn Philly was supposed to meet another Simpson stakes winner in Trillions Hanover, but that filly was scratched sick.
Rockn Philly was the only three-year-old pacing winner over the two days of Liberty Bell racing who was not sired by Sweet Lou, as he fathered all three divisional winners in colt action yesterday and also gets the credit for Skater Chick.
On the trot, Team Orange Crush, trainer/wife Julie and driver/husband Andy, combined with the Donato Hanover filly American Kronos to post the faster of the two trotting clockings, 1:55.1. Allowed to get to the half in a comfortable :58.1, the victorious chalk stepped up her game to hold off a long and tenacious grinding challenge by Cloud Nine Fashion. American Kronos held off her pesky foe by a neck for Marvin Katz, Al Libfeld, and Dr. David Goodrow, who saw their sophomore win for the tenth time in eighteen career outings.
Julie and Andy’s nephew Marcus Miller guided the filly who took the other trotting division, the Cantab Hall filly Magical Beliefs. She parlayed a pocket trip into a strong stretch surge that saw her go by favoured pacesetter Fade Into You by 1-¾ lengths in 1:55.4. Magical Beliefs, who returned to the races sharp for trainer Linda Toscano after a 23-day respite, raised her lifetime bankroll to $301,857 with the triumph for Highland Green Farms, South Mountain Stables, and R-And-I Farms LLC.
(PHHA / Harrah's Philadelphia)