French Wine paid a high price for keeping early control of the engine, but he never looked back while winning the $22,222 Winners Over Handicap Trot on Thursday, Aug. 21 at Harrah’s Philadelphia in 1:54.1.
Andy Miller had the victorious son of Bar Hopping-Creamy Mimi revved up enough early to obtain and then refuse to relinquish the lead through an opening fraction of :27.2. On a day cooler than it has been recently, Miller then stole a half in :57.3, and French Wine passed three-quarters in 1:26.1 and still had a :28 kicker in the tank to ward off a closing Resolve To Win (Corey Callahan) by a neck, with first-over favourite Dial Square S (Åke Svanstedt) holding her ground well to be just another neck off the winner.
Julie Miller trains French Wine, a winner of 15 races and $1,361,262 in earnings in 44 career starts. He has now won three of his last four and four of his last six outings for Andy Miller Stable Inc., Daniel and Jean-Cristophe Plouffe, and One Legend Stable Inc. He paid $13 to win.
Mr Bluebird ($2.60) flew away from the gate, set fractions of :29.1, :58.1, and 1:26.2, then had enough in reserve to defeat potential pocket rocket Excalibur Bi (Callahan) by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:54.4 in the $19,444 sub-featured conditioned trot. Greenspan (Art Stafford Jr.) was third. Trainer Svanstedt was present at the track on Thursday, but his four-year-old stallion, a son of Six Pack-Goosebump Hanover, had been doing well when driven by Johnathan Ahle, and Ahle kept the steer for this victory for owners Ake Svanstedt Inc., Little E LLC, and Torbjorn Swahn Inc.
Svanstedt drove two other winners from his shedrow on the 15-race card, giving the barn three successes. The first was Haring ($5.40), a two-year-old Greenshoe-Ninnie Tilly S gelding, who broke his maiden in 1:59.3 in the sixth race. The other was the five-year-old Tactical Landing-Senorita Bonita mare Eteria It ($3.20), who won for the first time since shipping in from Sweden with a dominant victory in 1:52.4 in Race 12. Svanstedt has driven 46 winners this year, including his Hambletonian victory with Nordic Catcher S.
Another son of Six Pack, the four-year-old gelding Six Pack Tony ($20.80), was parked wide early but rushed up to get the lead on the first turn, set splits of :28.4, :58.1, and 1:27, then stayed clear by 1-1/2 lengths to take an $18,750 conditioned trot in 1:56.1. Stafford guided the winner for trainer Brendan Davis and owner Moni Talks LLC.
George Napolitano Jr. topped the sulkysitters with three victories.
Racing resumes at the riverside oval on Friday at 12:25 p.m. The feature on the 12:40 p.m. Sunday card is the final preliminary round of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series for two-year-old trotting males, as the babies try to secure spots in their upcoming rich Championships. The freshman PASS finals will be held on a $1.4 million USD card on Friday, Sep. 5.
(With files from PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia; photo of French Wine winning on Nov. 17, 2023)