Chester, PA — A long shot, AP Hall of Trix ($121.00), and a favorite, Steel ($3.00), emerged as the winners of the $14,400 co-featured trots on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 16) at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

The $470,000 yearling Glacier Hanover acted as if he were trying to earn that price back all at once, sailing out to the lead in :26.4, then rebuffing a middle move from 1-9 favorite Pivotal to a :55 half. The outside challenger backed off midway up the backstretch, and Glacier Hanover hit the three-quarters in 1:25, but he could not survive those fractions. Meanwhile, Pat Berry worked the Trixton gelding AP Hall Of Trix into the outside flow behind a rejuvenated Pivotal, then circled wide to take the lead and hold off Big Sky Ex by a half length in 1:56.1 for owner-trainer David Hoover.

Steel, a 1-2 favorite, went to the lead for driver Tyler Miller just before a :28 quarter, and then he too had to dealing with an early brusher in SJ’s Lady Lou, with the two hitting the half in :56.2. That pace proved too much for pocket-sitting Pilot Hanover, who broke at that point, with SJ’s Lady Lou going into the two-hole before eventually fading. The Chapter Seven sophomore gelding Steel, meanwhile, went to the three-quarters in 1:25.4, then out-sprinted the late kick of Boom Boom Bay by 2-4/3 lengths while reducing his record to 1:54.3. Julie Miller conditions the winner of $207,611 for the ownership of Pinske Stables and Crawford Farms Racing.

For much of the $13,000 fast-class trot, Bluffinner looked like he would be tough to overhaul, carrying an open-length lead from before the half to the far turn, but the pocket-sitting Swan In Motion picked up the pace and went by easily in 1:54.1, 3-3/4 lengths ahead of Bluffinner. The Indiana star, a son of Swan For All trained by Dylan Davis for owner Howard Taylor, has now earned $478,735.