Tony Beltrami led from the pillar and clung to the post to snag a tight victory with All Rise in the $9,000 opening preliminary for the American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC) Fall Trotting Series on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 16) at Freehold Raceway.
Starting from the pylon post, Beltrami booked All Rise to the point with 2-1 favourite Brownie (Mike Polansky) settling into the pocket before a :29.1 first quarter. Beltrami had a comfortable stroll to a 1:00.4 half and faced no challengers until Southwind Frost (Bob Hechkoff) plied an attack out of third up the backside. Southwind Frost drew within a length of All Rise to three-quarters in 1:30.4 but levelled off coming into the stretch. Polansky then fired Brownie at the leader in the stretch but ran out of racetrack, leaving All Rise to a nose victory in 2:01 with Southwind Frost third. Oh Lina (Matt Zuccarello) finished fourth.
Paul Fusco trains All Rise, a six-year-old gelding by Conway Hall who is owned by Beltrami. He paid $11.20 to win.
The AHDC Fall Trotting Series resumes next Saturday, Sept. 23 at Freehold Raceway, with first-race post time at 12:30 p.m. (EDT). The AHDC will also be in action on Sunday, Sept. 17 for a pair of $9,900 pacing events at Harrah’s Philadelphia towards the tail of its 14-race afternoon card.
(AHDC)