A trio of $16,000 contests shared the spotlight on a special Friday evening card at Harrah’s Philadelphia with driver Andrew McCarthy, who won four races, including the featured pace and the faster of the two featured trots.
The Captaintreacherous sophomore filly Tarryn A Strip is now two for three since coming to the local oval and joining the barn of trainer Jennifer Bongiorno, winning Friday in 1:52, just a tick off her lifetime mark.
Tarryn A Strip did not have an easy path to Victory Lane, being caught very wide early and not making the lead until the three-eighths pole for McCarthy, yet she still had enough to withstand the wide late burst of Ponder The Odds by a half-length for Glenview Livestock LTD and Cheryl Cherry.
The Trixton sophomore filly Princess Deo, fifth in the Hambletonian Oaks final, was patiently sent up to command early in the front stretch by driver McCarthy, cut the pace, then held off pocket sitting Smooth Acceleration by a half length in taking the first of the two trots in 1:55.2.
The Lucas Wallin-trained Princess Deo took advantage of the break from stakes competition to post her first seasonal score, raising her lifetime bankroll to $336,314 for Deo Volente Farms LLC, Thomas Pontone and John Fodera.
In the other trot division, the Yankee Glide sophomore gelding Oberto had been moved early to the lead by driver George Napolitano Jr. and looked to be in good shape at the three-quarter pole, with both the pocket horse and the first-over labouring to stay with him. However, the horse in the two-hole broke early on the turn, freeing Remarkable De Vie, who had been stuck third-in, but that one’s rally could only carry him to within a head of Oberto by the end of the 1:58.1 mile.
Jeffrey Weiner trains the four-time winner for Thomas and Pamela Herbst Maloney.
The Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Championships for two-year-olds will be hosted on Sunday at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with $1.3 million on the line on the rich card. The gelding Real Cool Sam and the filly Sister Sledge are the ones to beat in the trotting sections; the pacing divisions will have no such clear-cut favourites.
Accompanying the $252,000 Championships will be $50,000 consolations in each of the four divisions of freshman competition.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)