Imaginary Line had to pay a big price to get the lead in the $16,216 feature on Friday, Sept. 13 at Harrah’s Philadelphia, but he proved to have enough to get the job done in 1:51.1 on an afternoon replete with game horses in high-priced claiming races.
A winner in this class from post six last week, Imaginary Line had to start from the outside post seven on Friday because of his $60,811 price tag, and indeed a battle for early supremacy saw the Betting Line gelding parked well past a :26.2 opener to get the top. The track’s leading driver, Tim Tetrick, guided Imaginary Line to the half in :54.4 and then the leader came under uncovered attack from favoured Glacis, with Frontier Rollo, second to Imaginary Line last week, in the pocket at the 1:23 three-quarters. But the pacesetter tenaciously held his lead to the wire for trainer Chuck Crissman Jr. and owner Rodney Long, winning by three-quarters of a length over Glacis, who photoed out Frontier Rollo for the deuce.
There were two races for high-priced pacers contesting $15,541. The Alta Christiano gelding Ronaldo N yielded early to sit a pocket trip behind Trip Hammer, then inherited the lead at the half when the favourite suddenly lost his bearings. Ronaldo N needed no other luck, taking off down the backstretch for driver Jack Pelling and winning handily in 1:50.3, making him perfect in two starts since being claimed by trainer Bill Mullin, also co-owner with Carver Racing LLC.
In the other sector, A Fair Ol Dance N showed good gate speed to make the top, then survived stretch challenges two deep inside and three high outside to record the win in 1:52. The on-a-roll combination of driver Simon Allard and trainer/owner Mark Akins got the victory in their third start after a claim of the gelded son of A Rocknroll Dance. Allard, fourth in the Philly driver standings, won five times on the card; three of them were for Akins, who now stands at number two in the conditioners ranks.
In one of the $14,865 divisions, the Hes Watching gelding Chucky Hanover joined the barn of the track’s leading trainer, Dean Eckley, then survived a brutal trip where he never saw the rail and won with courage in 1:51. George Napolitano Jr. kept the horse going for owner Ameer Najor. The other race for this purse for the claimers was captured by the American Ideal gelding Mindtrip, who overcame a 33-day layoff and a bias against closers to storm home from far back for a 1:51.3 success for driver Jack Pelling and trainer/owner Bruce Lauer.
Sunday’s 12:40 p.m. racing card will find a field with an average lifetime mark of 1:49.2 possibly threatening that number in a competitive $14,000 USD feature. There will be a $2,281.95 carryover into the first race Pick 4 wager. It is noted that post time for the next two Fridays at Philly, the 20th and 27th, will be at 6:30 p.m.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)