Khaosan Road, a pupil of Åke Svanstedt, wore down his old stablemate Asteroid, then trotted away to victory in the $20,270 feature at Harrah’s Philadelphia on a sunny Thursday (Sept. 12) afternoon. His time of 1:52.2 shaved a tick off his previous mark, achieved when he last raced here on July 18.
Favoured Asteroid, in his first outing since leaving Team Svanstedt, was pointed frontward early but received stern resistance from Stormont Divide, who pushed him past a :26.4 opener before yielding the lead. Asteroid continued setting the pace through middle fractions of :55.4 and 1:24.1; nearing the latter station George Napolitano Jr. guided the four-year-old International Moni gelding Khaosan Road (named after a tourist area in Bangkok) outside to challenge.
Khaosan Road moved powerfully when asked, put away the chalk fairly easily, then won by 1-1/2 lengths over Stormont Divide, who beat out the pacesetter by a neck for the place spot. The victor, the Dexter Cup winner last year and second in his Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championship, now has earnings of $397,668 for Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Little E LLC.
Lava Field, now a winner of three of his last four, pulled off a $45.80 upset in the $17,568 co-featured trot. The meet’s leading driver, Tim Tetrick (who also topped the day with four successes), took advantage of positioning with the victorious Muscle Mass gelding, getting away well on the inside, keeping JL Cruze two-wide, and leaving favored Dire Straits in dire straits three-wide, deciding what to do – he soon would go offstride. Lava Field yielded to sit in the two-hole behind the evergreen JL Cruze, then came up the inside to win by a half length in 1:53.4, his fastest win clocking, for trainer Jeff Cullipher and Pollack Racing LLC.
Other diamondgaited winners going in 1:55 or less on Philly’s “Trottin’ Thursday” card were Jas Bluestone and Shinkansen (both 1:53.3, a mark for the former), Keystone Apache (1:54.2 for three in a row), Fifty Ways (1:54.4) and Green Zone (1:55, also a lifetime best).
Racing continues at Philly on Friday (Sept. 13) at 12:25 p.m., with high-priced claiming events providing several features; Sunday’s (Sept. 15) 12:40 p.m. program has a strong $14,000 USD fast-class handicap pace. On the following two Fridays, the 20th and the 27th, Harrah’s Philadelphia will be racing under the lights, with a first post of 6:30 p.m.
(PHHA / Harrah's Philadelphia)