Beginning to harken back to her record-setting form of 2023, the Heston Blue Chip filly Odds On Hail Mary paced to her second victory in a row, capturing the featured $17,808 distaff handicap in 1:50.4 on Friday afternoon, June 21 at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Andrew McCarthy was on the move near the :27.3 opening station with his odds-on favourite, and “Mary” continued right to the lead, setting mid-splits of :55.1 and 1:22.3. The winner in her Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship last year in a divisional record 1:48.2 maintained her lead to the wire, winning by 1-3/4 lengths over Lous Lucky Girl, who in turn was second in a photo over Taking The Miki A, making her stateside debut and flashing a late burst that marked her as a horse to watch.
Odds On Hail Mary has now earned $324,634 in her career. She is trained by U.S. Hall Of Famer Linda Toscano for Let It Ride Stables Inc. and Odds On Racing.
The distaff pacing sub-feature, offering a bounty of $16,438, was captured by the Rockin Image filly On The Watersedge, who is now two-for-four at the riverside oval after coming in from Freehold Raceway. A strong first-over move carried On The Watersedge to a 1:53.2 victory over pocket-sitter Showboat Hanover and pacesetter Bares All for driver Simon Allard, trainer Richard Bilach and owner Dawn Ghiraldi.
In a pair of $15,411 contests for two-year-olds, the Stay Hungry-Rockingham Park pacing filly Gingertree Brenasu and the Greenshoe-Fashion Athena trotting gelding Fashion Green won their betting bows.
Gingertree Brenasu made the early lead despite the outside post six and held off the pocket-sitting favourite, Stevie Hanover, by a neck in 1:54.2 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Steven Cook and the partnership of Sam Beegle, Ginger Tree Ventures LLC, Knollview Stable and Bob Reber Jr.
Conversely, Fashion Green secured a two-hole trip behind front-stepper Set The Bar, then out-stepped that one home by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:59 for U.S. Hall Of Fame driver Tim Tetrick, trainer Jim Campbell (whose own Hall induction is in a couple of weeks), and Fashion Farms LLC.
George Napolitano Jr. won four races on the Friday card; like the previous day, when he won five times, all of his victories came before the halfway point of the program. Simon Allard won three of the last four races on the card to be tied at three victories with Andrew McCarthy, who among his wins were the second halves of both the Early and Late Doubles.
On Sunday’s 12:40 p.m. card at Philly, there is a crackerjack $15,000 USD fast-class pace, where the average mark of the field of six is 1:48.3; Maximus Miki is the early favourite. Free Philly programs are available at phha.org.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)