Young and developing horses are in abundance in the Mid-Atlantic area, and Harrah’s Philadelphia had $12,600 quad-features for their various divisions on Friday.
Kiss The Captain won her second straight start – her previous one came on August 27 of last year – as she paced to a new mark of 1:51.4, with Andrew McCarthy gunning her through wild fractions of :26.1, :54.2, and 1:22, successfully bottoming out the field.
Trained by Andrew Harris for A Harris Racing LLC and Martin Budkey, Kiss The Captain is a Captaintreacherous three-quarter sister to Kissme On the Beach – who still holds the world record she set almost five years ago for this winner’s division, three-year-old pacing fillies on a 5/8-mile oval.
In the other distaff pacers feature, Captains Maid, recently coming under the care of trainer Jennifer Bongiorno, was guided by her brother Joe to a smart 1:52.3 lifetime best, making the lead at the quarter and staying in control as the favoured Skyy closed inside but did not reach.
Another daughter of Captaintreacherous, and out of a dam whose half-brother was $2M+-winning Art Official, the sophomore is owned by Brookside Stables.
A feature contest for male pacers also saw the Bongiorno sister-brother team enjoy success with a new acquisition, as the Big Jim gelding Springbridge Duel was put on the lead early by Joe (who won three races in all on the day), and the pair rolled to a 1:51.2 lifetime mark in the sophomore’s 2021 bow.
Springbridge Duel, owned by Glenn Goller, Abraham Basen, and Mark Harder, now has won half of his six lifetime trips behind the gate.
The trotting section of the features saw the Johnny William gelding Cavalier George sit a great pocket trip behind longshot Boom City, then come and pick that one up in the stretch while winning in 1:54.4, the fastest time of his career. Todd McCarthy, also a three-time winner during the program, guided the winner for trainer Paul Stafford and owner Thomas Ceraso, Jr.
An $11,200 pace for quality older horses saw Somewhere Fancy edge out Nutcracker Sweet in 1:52, as driver Simon Allard had the son of Somebeachsomewhere involved early and late and still got his nose to the wire first. The Lou Pena trainee, owned by John Mehlenbacher, raised his bankroll to $778,287 with his 53rd career victory.
The Sunday card at Harrah’s, which begins at 12:40 p.m., has a pair of $16,200 contests for fast-class pacers which may give the fans as much trouble to establish the favourite as the horses will find facing the competitive opposition.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)