CHESTER, PA – Deep Impact and Impacter, half-brothers out of the Yankee Glide mare Glide Power, may have close genetic backgrounds, but the routes they took in winning the twin $14,500 featured trots at Harrah's Philadelphia Thursday couldn't have been more different.
The Donato Hanover five-year-old gelding Deep Impact was first to race, and driver George Napolitano Jr. pointed the classdropper right to the front, getting the quarter in 27.3, then resting to a 58.2 half before reigniting the speed.
Deep Impact reached the ¾ in 1:26.1 en route to a 1:55 victory, three lengths clear at the finish, for trainer Ãke Svanstedt and the Van Camp Trotting Corporation.
A year younger than his half-brother, Impacter had no straight shot on the lead to Victory Lane.
Trainer/driver Vince Copeland tucked the altered son of Muscle Hill third in a 27 opener, kept him in past a 56.2 half, then backed him out to third-over position well before the 1:25.2 ¾ clocking.
When the horses in front of him didn't gain quickly through the turn, Copeland sent Impacter four-wide into the lane, and he got to the wire first in 1:55.4, ¾ of a length ahead of Shady Mccoy, for owner David D. Miller.
The Friday card at Philly will be an evening one, starting at 6:30 p.m. After the usual Sunday action beginning at 2:05 p.m., there will be a special live card on Columbus Day, Monday, October 8 at 12:25 p.m., with over $200,000 in stakes action in the John Simpson Sr. series, with three-year-old colts of both gaits each contesting three divisions.
From the PHHA/Harrah's Philadelphia