CHESTER PA – Donttellmeagain, the last horse to have won a race against 2018 Harness Horse of the Year McWicked (at Dayton in late September), came out sharp in his 2019 bow at Harrah’s Philadelphia in a Tuesday morning qualifier, coming his own back half in 53.4 to trip the timer in 1:52.2.
Tim Tetrick was behind the Jim King Jr. harness racing trainee, and the pair got away fifth from the outside seven post, then moved with a backstretch flow and retucked third as Sicily brushed to the lead. Donttellmeagain moved out again in the stretch, but the $500,000+-winning Sicily proved hard to overhaul, but overhauled he finally was by the five-year-old Dragon Again gelding, a neck to the good for Paton Racing Stables Inc.
Among the three-year-olds who qualified impressively were:
— The McArdle filly Queen Of The Pride, who won her Ohio Sire Stakes Championship last season, coming home in 27.4 to post a 1:52.4 victory for driver David Miller and trainer Kevin Lare;
— Practical Cat, a Muscle Hill $230,000 yearling, who won handily in 1:55.2 for driver Yannick Gingras and trainer Per Engblom;
— And the “Philly fillies at Philly,” Pennsylvania Sire Stakes misses Philly Hanover and Rockn Philly, with the former edging the latter by a half-length in 1:56.3 for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Ron Coyne Jr.
PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia
Jerry Connors