At a time of year when many stakes three-year-olds are making their way back to the racetrack, it was the more seasoned performers who made the best showings during the Tuesday morning, May 6 qualifiers at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Shining the brightest by far was the Chapter Seven four-year-old gelding Secret Agent Man, who flew around the racetrack in :27.4, :55.4 and 1:23 en route to a final time of 1:51.1. The time is a tick faster than the Philly divisional race record set last year by Benjamin Hanover.
Last year, Secret Agent Man had a “good then break” pattern: three seconds in the preliminaries of the top Kentucky program, then a miscue in the final; a Bluegrass winner, then a breaker in the Kentucky Futurity; second in his Breeders Crown elimination, but then again misbehaving in the final. His connections – driver Andy Miller, trainer Julie Miller and the partnership of Andy Miller Stable Inc., Plouffe Racing, Patrick Hoopes, and Knutsson Trotting Inc. -- are obviously hoping for improved behaviour from their horse, as he has shown he has the speed of a free-for-aller.
Three older performers tied for fastest pace honours at 1:53.1 – two easy winners, and one who got a good scare late. Stonecoldtreachery, who won in 1:50.2 here last year, won Tuesday, but keep an eye on Fusion (Always B Miki-Pure Country), who hadn’t raced since the Governor’s Cup, but zoomed home uncovered in :54.1 and :27 to miss just a neck.
Of the other 1:53.1 winners, one was Sabonis, a son of Tellitlikeitis, a 16-race winner while taking a mark of 1:48.2 last year at Hoosier Park, including 13 straight victories and the Milstein in his only appearance outside Indiana. He came home in :27.2 debuting for Team Pelling.
The other was Oakwood Ardan IR, an import from across the Atlantic who is part of the white-hot Robert Cleary barn. He rose through the ranks last year and got all the way to third in the Canadian Pacing Derby and also a 1:48.2 victory, at The Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day. On Tuesday, he sparkled during a :27.1 kicker.
(With files from PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia; photo of Secret Agent Man with trainer Julie Miller in 2024)