It was a solid day for Hall Of Fame Driver Dave Miller on Sunday (April 10th) at Harrah's Philadelphia. Miller had five wins on the afternoon program, including the first two legs of the pick 4 and the late pick 3. The Ohio native has been on quite a roll as of late, winning 10 races at 3 different racetracks in a 24 hour period. Miller had 3 wins on Saturday night at The Meadowlands, and 2 wins at Pocono on Sunday night, to go along with his 5 wins on Sunday afternoon.
In other news, there was a $2,709 carryover in the pick 4 headed into Sunday's program. Despite the fact that a heavy 1/2 favorite won the first leg (Hickory Icon), the pick 4 still managed a handsome return of $833 for a .50 cent wager. The new minimum in 2016 is .50 cents, with a low 15% takeout.
Ron Burke trainee Verdad (Gingras) picked up his third straight win in the featured event of the day, a non-winners of $15,000 in the last 5 starts for pacers. The Howard and Judith Taylor owned 7-year-old horse out of Western Ideal was game in his win, grinding much of the mile first-over. The mile was timed in 1:52.3. It was his 29th career victory, as he continues to edge towards the $500,000 mark in career earnings. The red hot Toatsmygoats (Andy Miller) finished a bang-up second, despite being shuffled behind a tiring leader. The Nick Surick trainee came into this race winning 2 of his last 3 starts.
The upset of the day came in race 5, as Chris Temming's Gavin's Designer (McCarthy) came from off the pace to win at at 54-1. The 7-year-old gelded son of Camluck was able to take advantage of the tired pacesetters, after the initial quarter was ripped off by Burke trainee Allstar Legend in :25.4. The gelding prompted a 2 out of 3 Pick 3 payoff.
And in a milestone watch, millionaire pacer Versado was looking for his 50th career win on Sunday. The 9-year-old gelded son of Dragon Again was starting from post 4 in a non-winners of $10,500 in their last 5 starts event. After challenging the speedy Bestjetyet first-over in the races middle half, he tired to finish 5th beaten 5 lengths. It was his second start of 2016.
Live racing continues on Wednesday, April 13th, with a first post of 12:40 PM.
by Mike Bozich, for Harrah's Philadelphia