On Thursday afternoon (Aug. 16), the Italian import Tuonoblu Rex won for the first time in 405 days, taking the $18,000 featured trot in 1:53.1.
The son of Cantab Hall won his first three U.S. starts starting in April of last year and then added a fourth victory on July 7 before his 2017 campaign ended after only eight starts on Aug. 5. The trotter came back in May of this year but was undistinguished in two starts before a brief layoff, during which Mark Silva bought a share of the horse and took over the care of the winner of $253,143.
The Andy Miller Stable Inc. is the current co-owner of Tuonoblu Rex, and indeed Miller was in the sulky on Thursday, quarter-moving his charge after a :27.4 split and not having many anxious moments thereafter as the 1-5 favourite, posting middle splits of :56.2 and 1:24.2 en route to the easy triumph.
The Muscle Hill mare Dream Baby Dream, with champion CR Kay Suzie not far back in her maternal pedigree, continues to develop into the kind of horse her breeding might allow, taking the $17,000 co-featured trot.
Andrew McCarthy moved the four-year-old outside from third at the :28 quarter, and after Signal Hill finally made the top near the three-eighths, Dream Baby Dream went on to the top, but not without working to a :56 half. Zagster put in a spirited challenge to and just past the 1:24.4 three-quarters, but he fell back a bit, and the winner was able to withstand the late move of favoured Sortie by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.2, the same time Dream Baby Dream posted in a Philadelphia win seven days ago. Brett Pelling conditions the winner of $225,096 for the Wiesman Farms LLC.
(PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia)