An effortless :25.4 third quarter propelled Francis Azur's Lonewolf Currier to a dominant victory in his $79,182 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division at Harrah's Philadelphia on Friday afternoon.
Three-year-old pacing colts and geldings took center stage in a trio of Sire Stakes divisions and Lonewolf Currier earned his share of the spotlight, taking the fastest split of the day in 1:49.3 over a fast track.
After finishing a hard-closing second in the Art Rooney at Yonkers Raceway two weeks prior, Brian Sears settled into mid-field with the son of The Panderosa, moving first-over with a circuit to go into a :55 half-mile. Sitting 2-3/4 lengths off pacesetter Some Kinda Beach (Marcus Miller) at the race's mid-point, Lonewolf Currier made a monstrous move to the fore, pushing clear by two lengths en route to a 1:21.1 three-quarter split, and holding clear under minimal encouragement to win by 2-3/4 lengths over Some Kinda Beach. Sir Richard Z Tam (Patrick Lachance) swung three-wide on the far turn to rally for third honours. The Kevin McDermott trainee returned $2.80 to win.
Marvin Rounick's homebred Net Ten EOM (by Somebeachsomewhere) was an upset winner in his division, kicking cover at the top of the stretch and rallying past beleaguered pacesetter Normandy Invasion (driven by David Miller) and pace-prompter Smokealittlesmoke (driven by Andy Miller) to win in 1:51.4 in rein to Tim Tetrick for trainer Richie Silverman. Ron Pierce, who won seven races on yesterday's Stallion Series card, followed the winner's cover with Lex Vegas, rallying down the grandstand side for second, just missing at the post. Net Ten EOM paid $50.40 to win.
In the last division, the Ron Burke-trained Dedis Dragon (sired by Dragon Again) cleared early, fought off a stiff challenge from Joeythewarhorse (driven by Corey Callahan) on the far turn, and had enough left to stave off open-stretch rival Our Dragon King (driven by Brett Miller) in a 1:51.2 win with Yannick Gingras in tow. Dedis Dragon paid $4 to win. He is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC Phillip Collura, and Tracy Hendler.
(With files from Harrah's Philadelphia)