Captain Crusader A, a son of Captaintreacherous-The Arch Nemesis, parlayed a lively second-over trip into a narrow victory over pocket-sitting Virgo in the $17,808 headlining fast-class conditioned pace on Sunday, Aug. 31 at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Virgo (Simon Allard) used track geometry to maximum advantage, leaving hard from the rail and forcing favoured Rockin Jukebox (George Napolitano Jr.), starting outside him, to soon take back. Ignatius A (Jonathan Ahle) was three-wide early and pressed on past the :27 quarter, making the lead under the wire the first time. After reaching the half in :55.2, Ignatius A received hard outside pressure from Rockin Jukebox that extended well past the 1:23 three-quarters, with Captain Crusader A swinging wide for Jack Pelling off his good cover and Virgo ducking inside for the stretch action. The late battle came down to the latter two, with Captain Crusader A able to out-finish Virgo by the smallest possible margin in the 1:50.4 mile. Ignatius A was a game third.
Jeff Cullipher trains Captain Crusader A, now a 33-time winner with $485,525 in earnings from 143 career starts. The eight-year-old stallion races for Pollack Racing LLC. He paid $10 to win.
Co-featured was a $16,438 conditioned contest for developing male pacers. The Papi Rob Hanover-Db Blue Chip sophomore gelding Waterfront ($4.60) was away swiftly from the rail and forced a program-order lineup, set the fractions of :28, :57.1, and 1:25.3, then was able to easily march home first while winning by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:53.4. Summit Seelster (Napolitano) rode the pocket to a place finish, followed by Dreamlandcappucino (Ahle). Allard steered the winner for trainer Hunter Oakes, whose H O Racing Inc. shares ownership with Flying A Racing Stable, Alan Johnston, and Donald MacRae. The gelding is now three-for-22 lifetime and has earned $66,680.
A $15,068 claiming handicap pace for the highest-priced tagged horses on the grounds was taken by the Heston Blue Chip-Miss Babe Delight gelding Hello Gorgeous ($6.40) in 1:52.3. Troy Beyer chased after him early to get him to the top, and after that the winner of two straight did not have many anxious moments. Izzy Estrada, the track’s top trainer, also owns the winner as Estrada Racing LLC.
Ahle led the drivers four victories, while Pelling guided three winners. Doubles were recorded by driver Beyer and trainers Estrada and Shaun Vallee.
Philly has a current main schedule of Thursdays and Fridays at 12:25 p.m. and Sundays at 12:40 p.m. Thursday’s card will feature a carryover into the fifth-race Pick 5 pool.
This coming Friday, Sept. 5, Harrah’s Philadelphia is will host $1.5 million USD of races featuring some of the best in North American harness racing. The card features four $300,000 USD Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships for the quartet of two-year-old divisions; $50,000 USD consolations in each group; and a $50,000 USD Invitational pace and a pair of $25,000 USD contests, for top trotters and fast pacing distaffs. This card will be drawn on Tuesday.
(With files from PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia)