Hellabalou, the winner of the last two Borgata Series championships at Yonkers Raceway, showed he’s more than an early season specialist by taking a new mark of 1:48.3 in winning the $18,056 featured pace at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 4.
Driver Dan Dube had the accelerator floored early as the son of Sweet Lou put everybody in behind him early in a :25.4 opener; he then got a breather to a :54.2 half. Nobody could reach him by the 1:21.2 three-quarters, and Hellabalou remained in firm control through the lane, with pocket-sitter Lyons Steel keeping up well to be 2-1/2 lengths behind at the finish.
In addition to the double Borgata wins, Hellabalou has won The Adios, Camluck Classic and a Meadowlands Pace elimination en route to a career bankroll of more than $1.5 million. Ron Burke conditions the talented pacer for Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Eric Good and Lawrence Karr.
The other big story on the day was trainer Dean Eckley sending out four winners, moving him into a tie for the lead in the Philly conditioners standings with Mark Akins and Per Engblom; he is also just one back of Jeff Cullipher at Pocono. Since July 15, Eckley has sent out 33 horses, and 17 of them have emerged victorious, a blazing win rate of 52 per cent. Three of Eckley’s winners were driven by George Napolitano Jr. to tie him as top driver on the day with Jack Pelling, who won the last three races.
On another side of the training stats, Josue Garcia, a 42-year-old native of Guatemala, harnessed his first winner ever when Adrenaline Rush, whom he also owns, got to the winner's circle after his race.
Racing at Harrah’s Philly goes back to a schedule of 12:25 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 12:40 p.m. on Sundays. The next program is a “Trottin’ Thursday” card, with many races for good horses on the diagonal gait, including a $15,000 USD fast-class event.
(With files from PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia; photo of Hellabalou winning the 2024 Borgata Series)