Trainer Mark Harder recorded the 2,000th victory of his career during the Friday afternoon (June 7) card at Harrah’s Philadelphia when his pupil Ataboy Hanover drew off to an easy victory in an $11,000 trot, in the process taking a new mark of 1:54.3.
The 58-year-old native of Wellington, New Zealand enjoyed his best season in 2004, when Holborn Hanover, former co-holder of the all-time fastest race mile at 1:46.4, won the Meadowlands Pace, the Progress Pace at Dover, and the Dancer Pace at Freehold in contributing heavily to the Harder stable’s $6 million in earnings.
The red-hot barn of trainer Jim Campbell sent out another promising youngster as Chapter Fashion took the $16,000 trotting part of twin features on the card. In the feature restricted to pacing distaffs, Backseat Terror took her field coast-to-coast.
Chapter Fashion, who had shown good speed amidst a couple of breaking outings, was on best behaviour here for driver David Miller, brushing to the lead in front of the grandstand and coming home in :57.2 to defeat the favoured filly Antonia by three-qurters of a length in 1:55.1, equaling his racing best and a fifth off his time in a qualifying win at The Meadowlands. The Fashion Farms LLC up-and-comer is a sophomore Chapter Seven gelding by New Hampshire Gal, whose dam Yankee Kelsie is a three-quarter sister to stakes star Yankee Glide.
Since the first of June, Campbell’s barn shows a 21-9-4-1 record -– and that includes all the horses in four baby races at Philly this past Tuesday where the 1-2 finishers were Campbell trainees.
In the feature for female sidewheelers, the Western Terror mare Backseat Terror did not look back from the rail, making every pole a winning one in 1:51.3, with back fractions of :55.2 and :27.3. Lyons Hedgeabet defended the pocket and gave a spirited effort in the stretch, but came up shy to the Katricia Adams trainee, owned by John Barnard, who now has four wins and four seconds in her last eight starts after not finishing first or second in a dozen starts during all of 2018.
Finally, driver Tim Tetrick won the first three races of the day at Harrah’s, then won with his last drive on the card in the twelfth to boost his lifetime total two shy of the 11,000 win mark. The impending milestone will mark yet another impressive accomplishment for the 37-year-old, as he will be only the tenth North American driver to achieve that figure.
(PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia)