Bettorhaveanother and driver Yannick Gingras pulled a mild upset in the $18,000 featured pace for distaffs Friday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, turning back favored Princess Fabulosa by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:50.4.
The Bettors Delight mare and Gingras dashed right to the top and cut relatively tame (for this type) fractions of :27.1 and :56.1. With Princess Fabulosa coming first-up from third, Bettorhaveanother turned on the afterburners with a :26.4 third quarter, stopping the timer at that point in 1:22.4, then tacked on a :27.3 last quarter to hold off her tough rival. Ron Burke conditions the winner of $341,930 for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. (Burke also conditions the winner of last week’s winner in this class, Windsun Glory, who steps up to Great Northeast Series competition on Sunday night at Pocono.)
Hard-knocking older pacers are set to threaten the 1:50 barrier given good weather on Sunday afternoon, as Harrah’s hosts two $30,000 divisions of the Great Northeast Open Series. The first division is wide-open, as reflected in the fact that the morning line favourite is 4-1 Feeling Cam Lucky, going for his fourth win in a row as he takes a big stepup in class.
A bit more sure of a favourite is Rodeo Romeo (3-1) in the second division, although he like Feeling Cam Lucky must start from post seven in a field of eight. Rodeo Romeo posted the fastest mile of the year at Pocono last Saturday in the first round of the Great Northeast, winning in 1:49.2. His biggest competition may come from Heaven Rocks A, who makes his North American debut here after racing with honor against the very best Australasian pacers Down Under.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)