Six $20,000 divisions of the second preliminary leg of the Pennsylvania Stallion Series for two-year-old trotting fillies headed the card at Harrah’s Philadelphia Thursday. Intermittent rain caused three changes in track condition during the hot afternoon, but five of the six winners still produced lifetime marks.
The fastest winner in the freshman sextet was the Muscle Hill–Quite Possible miss Dune Hill, who posted a clocking of 1:56.2 over a “good” surface. The filly had been having some breaking difficulties, but here driver Yannick Gingras let her ramble down the road, keeping opponents three-wide to the quarter before they tucked, then powering off to win by five lengths for trainer Ron Burke and owner Joseph Di Scala, Jr.
Gingras had a second winner in another Muscle Hill filly, Rebecca Clark, whose dam, About To Bee, is a half-sister to champion Bee A Magician. Rebecca Clark raced out of the pocket and won by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:59.1, also when the track was rated “good.” Per Engblom handles the winner for Christina Takter, Goran Anderberg, Herb Liverman, and Bivans And Bruni Racing.
Driver David Miller also paraded back a pair of StS winners, including the only one who did not take a mark, the Explosive Matter–Gossip Hanover freshman Caviart Guilia. However, she did win in 1:57.4 after a second wave of rain had regressed the track to “sloppy,” and she became the only repeat Stallion Series winner after going a tick faster on a fast track in her first StS win. Brian Brown trains the quickly-developing miss, who pulled from the pocket to go on to a 2-3/4 length score for Caviart Farms, who saw their filly remain perfect after three purse starts.
Miller’s other winner was another daughter of Explosive Matter, Perth Angel De Vie, out of the mare Dream Angel. After high finishes in two Pennsylvania Fair Stakes, Perth Angel De Vie put it all together on Thursday with a six length triumph in 1:57.3 – :57.1 – :28.2 when the track was still “fast.” Harold Brocklehurst trains the easy winner for owners Double R Farms LLC, David Obley, and Richard Williams.
Also racing when the track was still “fast,” the Father Patrick–High Heels filly Burberry posted the only real surprise in the six stakes outings, making every pole a winning one for a two length triumph in 1:58.1. She returned $43.80 in winning for trainer/driver Rick Zeron and the partnership of Rick Zeron Stables, James Walker, Howard Taylor, and Herb Liverman.
The other Stallion Series winner completed a triple for sire Muscle Hill: Heart N Soul Deo, a daughter of Yursa Hanover, who won in 1:58.4 – :29 over a good surface by 3-3/4 lengths. Tim Tetrick, who continued his hot run at the southeast Pennsylvania track with five more victories today, drove the Linda Toscano trainee, who now is 2-for-2 in purse starts for Thomas Pontone, Richard Gutnick, and Joseph Lozito, Jr.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)