CHESTER, PA – Tim Tetrick, the leading harness racing driver at Harrah's Philadelphia, continued on his recent hot run with five sulky successes on the Wednesday afternoon card, winning the featured trot, finishing first in one of the two co-featured paces, and just getting edged in the other co-feature.
The richest purse of the day was a $16,000 trot, which was taken by Captain Morgan, a four-year-old son of Cantab Hall who has raced lightly (this was only his 14th career start), but has shown much promise.
Here Tetrick sent the winner of two straight right to the lead, put up fractions of :27.2, :56.1, and 1:25.1 over a track that had been reclassified as "fast" after earlier rain had evaporated, then dug in to handle a last quarter threat from pocketsitter Lapped By Lindy to get to the finish line a half -length to the good in 1:54.3. Staffan Lind trains the developing winner for Lind Racing Stable LLC, Bender Sweden Inc., Roy Holth, and Kemppisuojalampistable.
The Well Said three-year-old gelding Brassy Hanover, second in the Hempt Championship behind Shake That House but still eligible to "n/w 3 races lifetime," showed his class in his $14,000 pacing co-feature, taking a new mark of 1:50.4. Brassy Hanover came out to follow cover down the backstretch, was left raw at the ¾, then motored home in 28.1 to leave 80-1 shot Random Hanover eleven lengths in arrears and the others even further back. Eric Good owns the Eddie Dennis trainee.
Favored V O Joe took the other $14,000 co-feature in 1:53.4 for driver George Napolitano Jr., but not until Joe McDude and Tetrick rapidly ate up stretch ground to be only a half-length shy at the wire.
But Napolitano appeared to have the distance to the wire measured with the Somebeachsomewhere sophomore gelding, with the pacer making it two straight for trainer Robert Cleary and the ownership of Allen Wenc and Joseph Hughes.
From the PHHA/Pocono Downs