Mr Bluebird won his third straight race in the $17,808 featured conditioned trot at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday, Sept. 4, controlling the pace then withstanding favoured Resolve To Win in a 1:54.1 mile.
A son of Six Pack-Goosebump Hanover, Mr Bluebird worked to the lead near the eighth pole from post five, then kept Resolve To Win, starting just outside him, out to just before a :27.3 first stanza before surrendering the top, only to come clambering back in front of the stands to regain the lead and put up middle fractions of :56.3 and 1:25. Resolve To Win vacated the pocket nearing headstretch and narrowed the gap, but Mr Bluebird had enough to keep that foe a half-length at bay for driver Johnathan Ahle. Celebrity Bambino (Corey Callahan) was third.
Mr Bluebird races for tariner Åke Svanstedt and the owning partnership of Ake Svanstedt Inc., Little E LLC, and Torbjorn Swahn Inc. The four-year-old's career bankroll is now $341,887, and he has won eight of 26 starts. He paid $6 to win.
The $15,068 conditioned sub-feature for fast-class trotters started with favourite Djimon (Pat Lachance) grabbing the lead and Sinatra De Vie (Russell Foster) trying to get in front, but the latter made a break nearing the quarter. That left the five-year-old Tactical Landing-Sheenas Shadow gelding Djimon in control of the pace, and he measured off a win over pocket-sitting Somebody Special (Tim Tetrick) by a half-length in 1:54.2. Robbie Pev (George Napolitano Jr.) finished third. Lachance trains the winner for owners Hudson Standardbred Stable Inc., Dale Larson, and Stephen Downey. The winner returned $3.60.
Up-and-coming trotters were spotlighted in two $16,438 tests. Sophomore Propulsion-Brigham Dream filly Dream Weaver Deo ($4.60) made every pole a winning one while stopping the timer in 1:56.3 and winning by 4-1/2 lengths in the first event. Troy Beyer drove the winner for trainer Nifty Norman owner and Deo Volente Farms LLC.
In the other division, the three-year-old Tactical Landing-Claire Michelle gelding Clear For Landing was looped out of the gate and parked just past the quarter for the lead, but he went all the way once there and was clear by 2-1/4 lengths at the end for his third straight win, here in 1:56.4. Simon Allard drove him for trainer Per Engblom and owner Consus Racing Stable Inc.
No fewer than eight doubles were recorded on the Thursday card at Philly: trainers Lachance and Annie Stoebe, and drivers Allard, Beyer, Lachance (also doubling in the sulky), Jeremy Morrison, Napolitano, and meet leader Tetrick. Of this group, Morrison’s two-bagger was the most interesting – he has only taken a handful of drives per season in the time since, but the last time Morrison had won a race before Thursday was Sept. 14, 2020, and here he visits the winners circle with both of trainer Stoebe’s horses.
Friday’s card at Harrah’s Philadelphia will be the richest of the season, as the southeast Pennsylvania track will host four $300,000 USD Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships for two-year-olds. Pacing colt Frantic Hanover and trotting filly Ginger Tree Lex will be looking to add the Championship events to their four prelim rounds; only 10 freshmen have pulled off that feat in the 23 years such statistics have been kept. A win for Frantic Hanover would also make him the richest single-season Pennsylvania Sire Stakes performer regardless of division.
(Harrah's Philadelphia; photo of Mr Bluebird winning on Sept. 28, 2024 at The Red Mile)