More than $2 million in purses was offered at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday afternoon, Sept. 5, with the bulk of the bounty being distributed in four $410,959 championships of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for two-year-olds. In addition to the big-money finales, there were $68,493 consolations for each division, along with $136,986 combined in three Open races.
Pacing colt Frantic Hanover and trotting filly Ginger Tree Lex were the stars of the show, adding their rich championships to a four-race sweep of their preliminaries. Frantic Hanover also set a couple of records.
Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace
Completing a sweep of the four prelims and championship, the Stay Hungry-Francessa colt Frantic Hanover paced the fastest mile ever by a freshman on a five-eighth-mile track, 1:49.1, knocking a tick off the world record set by his colt stablemate Al Papi two weeks ago at The Meadows and by the gelding One More Laugh here at Philly 16 years ago. And he pushed his winnings in his five PASS starts to $395,293 – with the $288,564 USD total being the most-ever by any Pennsylvania Sire Stakes competitor in one campaign, eclipsing the $286,918 USD earned by two-year-old pacing filly Pure Country in 2015.
Frantic Hanover, driven by Tim Tetrick, watched from fourth as Al Papi (Yannick Gingras) blasted away from post eight to grab command before the :26.1 quarter, then immediately started a brush to the top that landed him on the engine by the three-eighths before a :54.3 half. Outside challengers didn’t make much headway to and past the 1:22 three-quarters and Frantic Hanover came home in :27.1 (his slowest last quarter in an undefeated career, including qualifiers) to hold off the looming Al Papi by 1-3/4 lengths, with Melillo (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) completing a 1-2-3 sweep for trainer Ron Burke by getting the show dough off a second-over trip.
Frantic Hanover’s total earnings, including a PA All-Stars win in his only non-PASS start, is $416,879 for owners Burke Racing Stable of Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, Brad Grant of Milton, Ont., Knox Services of Mt. Vernon, Ohio and Weaver Bruscemi of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
The consolation went to the Captaintreacherous-Square Dancer colt Signal Caller, who brushed to the lead going to the three-quarters (while pacing his own third quarter in :26.1) and then drew clear in a 1:53.1 win. Andrew McCarthy drove for trainer Noel Daley and the partnership of Patricia Stable, Kovach Stables, Sjoblom Racing and L A Express Stable.
Two-Year-Old Filly Pace
The Papi Rob Hanover-One Last Kiss filly Say Goodnight was not in prime position (fifth-in) at the half, but she kept feeding up the inside for driver Andrew McCarthy and was most photogenic in a five-across finish to win her championship in 1:52.1 – paying $135.60 to win, the second-highest win payoff of the local season.
Big Weekend (Matt Kakaley), 30-1 herself, went right to the top and put down fractions of :26, :56.1 and 1:23.2. Fillies moved to the outside, including favoured first-up Loua Dipa (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), from mid-backstretch, and some reserved their bids for a stretch charge along the inside. The most effective of these belonged to Say Goodnight, a half length ahead of Im A Lou Lou (Tim Tetrick), with Imagine Heaven (Tyler Buter), Big Weekend and Loua Dipa getting the final cheques in order and all within 1-1/2 lengths at the wire.
Say Goodnight did not win a Sire Stakes prelim, but the 66-1 longest shot on the board got the job done with the big money on the line for McCarthy, who won the other filly championship with Ginger Tree Lex (to follow), trainer Nicholas Devita and Delaware owners David Hamm and Glenn Phillips.
In the consolation, a series of early lead changes ended with the Captaintreacherous-Book Babe filly Gonebutnotforgottn making the front by the half and she was kept alive late by driver Tim Tetrick to hold off an inside surge by Tall Dark Tequila (Tyler Buter) by a neck in 1:52.2, a new mark. Anette Lorentzon is the trainer and owner of Gonebutnotforgottn.
Two-Year-Old Filly Trot
Ginger Tree Lex, a daughter of Bar Hopping-Perfect Chance, cost only $25,000 as a Standardbred Horse Sale yearling, but she inflated her earnings to $376,761 for the Pennsylvania-based ownership of Sam Beegle, Ginger Tree Ventures, Knollview Stable 2 and Robert Reber Jr. by delivering a clean sweep of her four Sire Stakes prelims and then the championship.
Andrew McCarthy, driving the seven-time winner (all in stakes) for trainer Steve Cook, let others argue through a :27.4 quarter, then moved to the lead in front of the stands and posted mid-race splits of :57.1 and 1:25.1. Through the stretch, Ginger Tree Lex stayed on strong with a minimum of encouragement, with Maya Patel Hanover (Åke Svanstedt) 1-1/4 lengths in arrears at the wire. The 1:53.4 final time was a Sire Stakes divisional record and it equalled the Philly track record for the group first achieved by Country Victory last year. Atlantic Summer (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) completed the top three.
The “Bedford Boys” swept in this category, as the Fordham Road-A Little Laid Back filly Little Road launched a big rally from off stagnant cover to equal her lifetime mark of 1:56 for owner/trainer Bedfordian Roger Hammer (as is Ginger Tree Lex’s Sam Beegle) and driver Brady Brown in the consolation. Little Road now has won overnights, a Fair Sire Stakes, a Stallion Series race, a pari-mutuel Sire Stakes in her only start at this level (she was first AE for the big race), and now a Sire Stakes consolation.
Two-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot
Dublin Hanover kept his calm when many of those around him (four) lost theirs, as he posted a 12-1 upset in his championship event for trainer/driver Åke Svanstedt and his Åke Svanstedt Inc., partners in the son of Captain Corey-Dab Hanover with Sweden's Tomas Andersson and Lennart Johnansson.
Svanstedt got forward position early after Minoan (Johnathan Ahle) grabbed the early lead, then stayed along the rail through fractions of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:24.2 as Oversear (Charlie Norris) made a mid-race brush to the lead past Minoan. The early leader tried to come back for more in the stretch, with Svanstedt swinging wide and going past both him and the pacesetter to win by four lengths over Oversear. Dublin Hanover, who had captured a Sire Stake prelim, finished the mile in 1:54.2, a new mark and only a fifth of a second off the track record for his group set by Father TJ last season. (The winner’s sire holds the stakes mark of 1:53.3.)
Knutsson Trotting's freshman colt Nebbiolo, a Captain Corey-Via Lattea IT pinto, picked a good time to show his true colours and break his maiden, winning the consolation in 1:55.3. Tim Tetrick took him to command in the vicinity of the quarter and kept control from there for trainer Åke Svanstedt, giving him a sweep of the baby trotting colt races.
Invitational & Opens
The $68,493 Send It In Invitational Pace went in wire-to-wire fashion to the Somebeachsomewhere-Summa Of Dreams gelding Spring Inhis Step A in 1:49.4. Tim Tetrick took full advantage of track geometry from the rail with the eight-year-old pacer and put everybody in behind, then set fractions of :26.3, :54.4 and 1:22 before holding off a determined first-over bid by Tip Top Cat (Yannick Gingras) to win three parts of a length for trainer Jeff Cullipher and Pennsylvania-based owner Pollack Racing.
The Father Patrick-Bouncing Bax gelding Antognoni S trotted to his 11th victory of 2025, winning the $34,247 Open Trot to start the card in a career-best 1:51.4. Yannick Gingras kept the powerful trotter in third as Little Expensive (Tyler Miller) went past Ultion Face S (David Miller) early and set fractions of :26.4, :56.2 and 1:23.2, then moved outside to challenge. Through the lane, Antognoni S was in control as he defeated Ultion Face S by a length, with Little Expensive third. Ron Burke conditions the five-year-old trotter for the driver, Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and New York's FAC Racing.
Rocket Deo was kept outside most of the first three-eighths in the $34,247 Fillies & Mares Open Pace before taking command, but once she was on the engine (:26.4, :56.1, 1:23.2) there was not much questioning of her superiority, as she won by 2-1/4 lengths over first-over Take Your Pick (Tim Tetrick) in 1:51.2. Andrew McCarthy sulkysat behind the four-year-old daughter of Captaintreacherous-Rocklamation, a career winner of more than $940,000, for trainer Brett Pelling and owners Morrison Racing Stables of Indiana, Pennsylvania and John Fielding of Scarborough, Ont.
Tim Tetrick, the track's leading driver, had five victories on the big 15-race card at Philly, and Andrew McCarthy had four.
There will be a carryover of $3,240.97 into the first race Superfecta pool on Sunday.
(With files from Harrah's Philadelphia)