Khaosan Road overcame a two-move mile in which he was uncovered from late backstretch on, gamely out-trotting Resolve To Win and stablemate Southwind Tyrion to take the $22,222 Winners Over Trot at Harrah’s Philadelphia on “Trottin’ Thursday."
Khaosan Road, a gelded son of International Moni-Jewels In The Sand driven by Johnathan Ahle, left out to get a seat in third and saw longshot The Hazelton (Dave Miller) speed away to lead until Resolve To Win (Tim Tetrick) quarter-moved past the :27.4 first station. Khaosan Road was content to sit third past a :57.2 half and most of the way down the backstretch, with favoured Southwind Tyrion (Dexter Dunn), making his first start in 334 days, on his back.
The eventual winner charged up before the 1:25.1 three-quarters to tackle the leader, with Southwind Tyrion following his cover, and in an exciting stretch duel, Khaosan Road held on from between Southwind Tyrion and Resolve To Win to score in 1:53.2. Resolve To Win was only a head back, and Southwind Tyrion was three parts of a length in arrears.
Åke Svanstedt, whom one might expect anywhere where high-class trotters are gathered, sent out his third winner of the afternoon. Khaosan Road ($6), a five-year-old gelding, has won 13 of 38 career starts and has earned $508,372 for Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Little E LLC.
Svanstedt's first two winners on the 15-race card were Whatarace Hanover ($7.20) and Jimbaran Zon S ($3.20), who took his first North American victory since shipping in from Sweden earlier this year. The trainer is winning at a 21.7 per cent rate this season with 67 wins, including the Hambletonian.
Bred in Sweden, shipping from Italy, a winner at Philly after three months off, and looking ready to take on the world – that’s the story of Ultion Face S, a Joke Face-Croix Dam gelding who was an in-hand winner in 1:53.1 in his United States debut, the $18,056 co-featured fast-class trot. Dave Miller (who tied with Simon Allard for top driver on the day with three victories) floated out with the newcomer and slotted in third just past the quarter, then down the back launched an uncovered assault on pacesetter Outside The Fire (Ahle), who put up fractions of :28.3, :57.4, and 1:25.3. But the leader proved no match for Ultion Face S, who trotted his back fractions in :54.4 - :27 and looked like he could have gone more as he won by 2-1/2 lengths. Sinatra De Vie (Russell Foster) finished third.
Ultion Face S ($3.40) races for trainer Per Engblom and owners Engblom Stable LLC and Jesper Arvenberg. The nine-year-old gelding is now 16-for-81 lifetime with $362,230 in earnings.
There were also two high-level conditioned trots for horses climbing the class ladder. In a $19,444 contest, Cheers Hanover ($4.20) and Frank Leahy met again, as they had in a Beal Consolation at Pocono, and again the pocket horse won – but this time it was the Bar Hopping-Chez Lucie sophomore gelding Cheers Hanover who had his picture taken. Cheers Hanover followed Frank Leahy through fractions of :28.1, :57.2, and 1:25.3 before vacating the two-hole mid-far turn and wearing down his foe to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:54.1. Ma Isabelle (Pat Lachance) was third. Dave Miller drove the three-year-old to victory for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Jim Simpson, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby. Chez Lucie improved his career totals to seven wins and $259,856 in earnings in 24 starts.
In the $18,750 sub-feature for up-and-comers, the Aperfectyankee-Dontlooseallmoney sophomore colt Themoneyisback S ($5.40) got the early lead in :28.4, yielded to sit behind Flightline (Andy Miller) through middle fractions of :57.4 and 1:25.4, popped out on the far turn and went right to the lead, then marched off to defeat Alwayswithus (Dave Miller) by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:54.3. Flightline held for third. Themoneyisback S is trained and was driven by Jim Oscarsson and is owned by his Oscarsson Racing Stable Inc. He is now six-for-16 with $61,879 in earnings.
Racing resumes at Philly on Friday at 12:25 p.m. with distaff pacers in the spotlight. A week from Friday, Harrah’s Philadelphia will proudly host a $1.4M USD card headlined by the four $300,000 USD Championships for the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-olds, plus $50,000 USD consolations. Frantic Hanover (colt pace) and Ginger Tree Lex (filly trot), winners of all four of their preliminaries, will go for the clean sweep of their respective divisions.
(With files from PHHA/Pocono; photo of Khaosan Road winning on May 15, 2023)