The father-son duo of trainer Brett Pelling and driver Jack Pelling teamed up twice at Freehold Raceway on Saturday (Dec. 11). They scored together with Reigning Deo in race 7, then captured the Preferred Handicap pace with Hail Christian N.
Leaving from post position seven in the eight-horse field, Jack took Hail Christian N off the lead, dropping him in seventh throughout the early stages of the race. The early leaders, led by favoured Rockin M, set an opening quarter of :27.1, followed by a first half-mile of :57.1.
As they moved up the backstretch the final time, the field began to bunch up. Jack moved Hail Christian N off the pylons and grabbed cover third-over. Entering the stretch, Hail Christian N was still about five lengths off the lead and racing in the four-path. However, Hail Christian N had all the momentum, and he flew on the outside late to win by three-quarters of a length. The final time over a 'good' track was 1:54.3.
Hail Christian N is owned by Harcourt Lodge Stables. He's won four times this year from eighteen starts, with earnings of more than $64,000.
Live harness racing continues at Freehold on Friday (Dec. 17), starting at 12:30 p.m. There's three more days left of live racing in 2021, with racing on December 18 and December 31 to conclude the 2021 season.
(Freehold)