Chester, PA – Maybe 2022 will be the year that the royally-bred Bee Forever will develop into a top horse – the gelded son of Horses of the Year Muscle Hill and Bee A Magician took a step in that direction Wednesday (May 25) afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, winning his seasonal debut in 1:54.1 in the $14,400 featured trot.

David Miller allowed the four-year-old to go at his own pace past the half, sitting third as College Tuition put down fractions of :28.2, :58, and 1:26.1. Bee Forever had been asked to move uncovered down the backstretch and trotted up to the leader on the far turn, then was himself able to come home in :27.3 in catching the pacesetter by 1¼ lengths, with Miller sitting calmly, either confident or not wanting to disrupt the late bloomer’s concentration.

Bee Forever has “been to the races” for only 112 days to this point, nearing halfway into his four-year-old campaign, racing from September to November at two (a year he capped by winning the Valley Victory and taking his mark of 1:54), and then in May and June last year. Trainer Nifty Norman and the ownership of Melvin Hartman, Herb Liverman, and David Mc Duffee saw their horse keep his record at Philly perfect after three career outings.

The meet’s leading driver, Tim Tetrick, reported home first five times on Wednesday afternoon, including three times with Scott Di Domenico trainees, to raise his total for the meet to 64. Andrew McCarthy, second in the standings, added three triumphs to take his total to 51.

Racing continues at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday and Friday at 12:25 p.m. before the week climaxes with the $600,000+ “Super Sunday” card of three $100,000 Invitationals and $30,000 Opens for their parallel classes, along with Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series races for three-year-old pacing fillies. (Maybe that’s why Tetrick had such a good day, because this has traditionally been “his week” – of the 32 previous editions of Sunday’s three Invitationals, Tetrick has won thirteen of them.)

The 15-race Sunday extravaganza starts at 12:40 p.m. (A separate release highlighting Sunday’s top racing has been distributed.) Program pages are or will be available at https://www.phha.org/harrahspps.html.