Some of harness racing's hardest hitters took their show on the road to Harrington Raceway on Monday to contest a set of $30,000 eliminations for this year’s Bobby Quillen Memorial
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Foiled Again took full advantage of his pole position starting spot for driver Yannick Gingras en route to posting a track record clocking of 1:50.3. The six-year-old son of Dragon Again-In A Safe Place sprinted through splits of :27.1, :54.4 and 1:22 before finishing off his foes with a :28.3 final frame. Clear Vision (Dave Miller) was a solid runner-up, with Blueridge Western (Jody Jamieson) and Solano (Corey Callahan) rounding out the top four finishers.
Ron Burke trains 40-time winner for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Pennsylvania along with JJK Stables LLC of Florida. The gritty gelding is quickly closing in on $1.6 million in lifetime earnings.
Hypnotic Blue Chip worked his way into a second-over trip in the second elimination, and that helped him hold off a hard-closing Won The West in the final strides.
Mr Wiggles (Andy Miller) shot to the early lead and he was allowed to chop out very sensible fractions of :27.3 and :56.3 before coming under attack from Pangiorno (Corey Callahan) in the third quarter. They were eyeball-to-eyeball at the three-quarter pole in 1:24.1, with Won The West (David Miller) trapped in the pocket and Hypnotic Blue Chip (Jody Jamieson) sitting second over.
Hypnotic Blue Chip kicked off cover turning for home and got the jump on Won The West. Hypnotic Blue Chip halted the teletimer in 1:51.3 over the defending Bobby Quillen Memorial champ, Won The West. Pangiorno and Mr Wiggles rounded out the top four finishers.
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Kevin McDermott trains the four-year-old son of Art Major-A Traceofmagic for owner Fran Azur of Coraopolis, PA. The win was the pacer’s seventh of the season and the 19th of his career. The victory pushed his earnings over the $1.3 million mark.
The top four from each of the eliminations will return to Harrington Raceway on Monday, September 20 for the $354,000 final of the Bobby Quillen Memorial.