The four-year-old Sebastian K S gelding Benjamin Hanover, who earlier this season trotted the Harrah’s Philadelphia oval in 1:51.2 for a divisional track record, didn’t quite go that fast winning the $21,429 fast-class handicap feature at the riverside oval on a Friday, Dec. 20 that had snow fall through the last third of the card, but his 1:54 mile was very impressive in its own right.
Johnathan Ahle sent the 11-time seasonal winner right to the lead and got moderate early fractions of :28.4 and :57.4. Benjamin Hanover picked up the pace to reach the three-quarters in 1:26.2, then sprinted home through the chill in :27.3 – and had to, as All Wrapped Up was a pesky pocket presence throughout and made the winner work in his 1-1/4-length decision for trainer Scott Di Domenico and owner Angela Cornell.
The Bold Eagle mare Golden Rain S remained undefeated in North America by taking a new mile mark of 1:54.4 in a $20,000 co-feature trot for developing horses for driver George Napolitano Jr., trainer Per Engblom (who sent out three winners on the card) and owner Thomas Lind-Holm. Golden Rain S, who set a rapid pace, withstood a big late rally by slow-clearing Intl Blockade by a half-length.
Filly and mare pacers also had their turns in the Philly spotlight. In the $19,286 top contest for these distaffs, the Huntsville three-year-old miss Blue Point made an early pace-controlling move, then withstood the comeback of the horse she passed early, the inside-skimming Twin B Sunkissed, by a neck in 1:54. Meet-leading driver Tim Tetrick, who won five times at Philly on Friday after triumphing 17 times in the last three days at Dover Downs, had the sulky seat for trainer Jeff Cullipher and Pollack Racing.
In a very competitive (the morning line favourite was 4-1) $18,571 handicap event for the female side-wheelers, Ambushed found room late between horses and out-charged a fast-closing Vibrance by a nose in 1:52.3. Simon Allard got the daughter of Always B Miki home first for trainer Hunter Oakes and the ownership of D Racing Stable and Donald MacRae.
Only five more cards are left in the 2024 Philly season: this week there will be more racing on Sunday at 12:40 p.m. and then a Christmas Eve Tuesday program at 12 p.m., before which the Dan Patch Awards divisional champions will be announced at approximately 11 a.m. and can be seen on the signal. To close out the year, there will be racing on Friday the 27th at 12:25 p.m., Sunday the 29th at 12:40 p.m., and then New Year’s Eve Tuesday the 31st at 4 p.m.
(With files from PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia; Photo of Benjamin Hanover from his record win on April 25)