This Sunday afternoon, May 25, Harrah’s Philadelphia will present as good a card of racing as has been seen in North America so far in 2025, with $661,766 USD in purses up for grabs during the track’s annual marquee “Super Sunday” program, featuring 16 star-studded races beginning at 12:40 p.m.
The following is a brief overview of the three centerpiece $100,000 USD Invitational races for the most talented established performers in the sport, along with third preliminary round action of Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series racing for the “glamour division,” the three-year-old pacing males, and other top races on the talent-packed Super Sunday card.
$100,000 USD Betsy Ross Invitational Mares Pace (Race 13)
The five-year-old mare Twin B Joe Fresh, the 2024 Dan Patch Award winner as Horse of the Year and O'Brien Award divisional champion, will be making her 2025 debut in the Betsy Ross, starting from post five in an eight-horse field for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Chris Ryder. Twin B Joe Fresh, a career double millionaire, is also the defending champion in the Betsy Ross, having covered the mile in a stakes record 1:48.2 in capturing last year’s event, as she has prepped sharply for this season with three winning qualifiers.
Starting just to the right of Twin B Joe Fresh is another Dan Patch Award winner from last year, My Girl EJ. This mare was last year’s three-year-old pacing filly Dan Patch Award winner and she will step up to face more seasoned opposition on Sunday for trainer Andrew Harris and driver Todd McCarthy. “EJ” already has a 1:50.2 winning qualifier this season, and last year as a sophomore she finished a good second to Twin B Joe Fresh in the season-ending Fan Duel pace for females.
$100,000 USD Joseph Auger Memorial Invitational Pace (Race 12)
Ruthless Hanover became the fastest pacer ever over a five-eighth-mile track when he toured the Philly oval in 1:46.3 while winning the 2023 Auger, then came back last year to take his second straight victory in the race, in 1:47.2. He has won two qualifiers locally in preparation for this, his seasonal debut, the faster of the two in 1:51. But the pacer, driven by George Napolitano Jr. (atop the Philly standings) for trainer Tom Cancelliere, will have to deal with the difficult outside post eight if he is to three-peat.
Besides the bad post, there is also the obstacle of Abuckabett Hanover, 2024 Dan Patch Award winner for older pacing horses and the winner in his last two starts of that year, the Potomac and the Fan Duel, with Ruthless Hanover second both times. Like Twin B Joe Fresh, a lifetime double millionaire, Abuckabett Hanover will also be going to the gate for the first time in the current campaign, starting from post three for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Andrew Harris.
$100,000 USD Maxie Lee Memorial Invitational Trot (Race 11)
The two trotters to beat on paper in the Lee have drawn post one and two, and both are Swedish imports. Innermost is Antognoni S, an eight-time winner already in 2025 and the Brennan Trotting Series champion, coming off of a third as the favourite in the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial Trot after being hard-used to get the lead and set the pace. Antognoni S, named after a football (soccer) star in Italy, goes gateward for trainer Ron Burke and driver Yannick Gingras.
Alongside him will be Aetos Kronos S, a recent arrival from Europe who has earned $1.4 million and who started in last year’s prestigious Prix D’Amerique. Aetos Kronos S showed he fits in with some of the very best North American trotters competing when he ripped off a 1:51.3 clocking at The Meadowlands in only his third start on these shores. Dexter Dunn will have the driving assignment for trainer Marcus Melander.
Pennsylvania Sire Stakes & Stallion Series
The best of the Keystone-sired sophomore pacing males will race for $261,766 USD, with three divisions of Sire Stakes and seven Stallion Series sections in the penultimate leg of the two programs’ preliminaries.
The Sire Stakes will go in Races 5, 7 and 10, and the most attention will likely go to the latest of the three because it contains Louprint, Dan Patch Award winner at two and the only double winner in the two Sire Stakes legs to date. Louprint has post three for driver Ron Wrenn Jr. and trainer Ron Burke.
This 10th race will also be the opening leg of a Pick 4 wager with a $10,000 guaranteed pool, with the three Invitationals following right along behind rounding out the vertical wager.
Among the other promising horses in the Sire Stakes races on Sunday are Go Go Grasshopper, Twisted Destiny and Wedlock Blue Chip, each of whom has a Sire Stakes leg to his credit.
Among the Stallion Series races, Odds On Outlier was the only double winner in the first two prelims. He’s among the entrants in Race 15, starting from post five for driver Peter Wrenn and trainer Melanie Wrenn.
Super Sunday Undercard
There will be a $50,000 USD Invitational Pace, the #senditin, as Race 8 of the card, and a $25,000 USD Open Pace as Race 14. An Open Trot for $25,000 is slotted for Race 3. Thus, all 16 races on the “Super Sunday” card will be Invitationals, Opens or Sire Stakes/Stallion Series contests – quality from top to bottom.
To view Sunday's complete entries, click here.
(With files from PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia; photo of Twin B Joe Fresh winning the 2024 Betsy Ross)