The 1-2-3 finishers in the $17,808 featured trot on Thursday, May 23 at Harrah’s Philadelphia collectively went over the $5 million lifetime earnings milestone, as Eurobond ($748,039) defeated Crystal Fashion ($2.45 million) by three-quarters of a length, with JL Cruze ($1.98 million) another length back in third.
JL Cruze had the lead at the :27.1 quarter, with David Miller, a three-time winner on the day, sending favoured Eurobond frontbound in front of the stands and getting to the half in :55.2. Crystal Fashion, who had tucked fourth early, went up uncovered to challenge before the 1:23.2 three-quarters and tried hard but couldn’t get by the 1:52.3 winner, with JL Cruze keeping up fairly well after his pocket trip.
Eurobond is a son of Love You trained by Per Engblom for Morrison Racing Stables. He is nine, as is Crystal Fashion; JL Cruze is still in the fight against tough stock at age 13.
In the $15,069 trotting fast-class sub-feature, The Gruffalo overcame a tuck-then-first-up journey, holding off favoured Sinatra De Vie by a neck at the end of a 1:53.4 mile. The victorious son of Chapter Seven was driven by Andrew McCarthy for trainer Mark Harder, who is also co-owner with Racing Team Of America, Deena Frost and Emma Pettersson.
There were a pair of $16,438 events for developing horses, one on each gait, and both won by Tim Tetrick, who rang up a total of five triumphs on the day to extend his meet lead over David Miller to 32-28.
On the trot, the Father Patrick sophomore gelding Im Out worked hard to get the lead, set the rest of the pace, then withstood G Load by a half-length for Triple D Stables Inc. and Joe Faraldo while lowering his mark to 1:55. Winning trainer Scott Di Domenico had a pair of victories (both driven by Tetrick) and was joined as a conditioning doubler in the last race by Bill MacKenzie.
On the pace, Fasnacht Hanover took advantage of chief rival Who Said I Cant drifting out at several points in the race, with that one still finishing second but no match for the winning Stay Hungry sophomore colt. Fasnacht Hanover earned a new speed badge of 1:52 for trainer Tony Alagna and owners Marvin & Lynn Katz and Brad Grant.
Once again the “Trottin’ Thursday” slogan at Philly was out in full force effect, as there were five miles in 1:55 or better on the diagonal gait.
Action will resume at Philly on Friday, May 24 at 12:25 p.m, with a carryover into the fifth race Pick-5. And of course everybody is gearing up for this week’s gigantic “Super Sunday” card on May 26 – which will feature, among a very large cast, Ruthless Hanover, Desperate Man, Twin B Joe Fresh, Captain Albano and Gem Quality, to name just a few. The 16-race card, which begins at 12:40 p.m., will be offering $657,571 to North America’s top pacers and trotters.
(PHHA / Harrah's Philadelphia; photo from a previous win on Nov. 5)