Chester, PA — Khaosan Road overcame a two-move mile that saw him uncovered for well over a quarter mile, gamely out-trotting Resolve To Win to his left and stablemate Southwind Tyrion to his right to take the $16,000 fast-class handicap trot in 1:53.2 at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday (Aug. 28).
Khaosan Road, a gelded son of International Moni driven by Johnathan Ahle, saw long shot The Hazelton speed away to lead until Resolve To Win quarter-moved past the :27.4 opening split, and was content to sit third past a :57.2 half and most of the way up the backstretch with favored stablemate Southwind Tyrion, who was making his first start in 308 days, on his back.
The winner charged up before the 1:25.1 three-quarters to tackle the leader with Southwind Tyrion following his cover. In an exciting stretch duel, Khaosan Road got the win with Resolve To Win only a head back and Southwind Tyrion another three parts of a length in arrears. Åke Svanstedt sent out his third winner of the afternoon; this one has earned $463,056 for Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Little E LLC.
Bred in Sweden, shipping from Italy, a winner at Philly after three months off, and looking ready to take on the world — that’s the story of Ultion Face S, a Joke Face gelding who was an in-hand winner in 1:53.1 in his Stateside debut, the $13,000 co-featured fast-class trot.
David Miller, who tied with Simon Allard for top driving honors on the day with three victories, floated out with the newcomer and spotted third just past the quarter, then down the back launched an uncovered assault on pacesetter Outside The Fire, who put up fractions of :28.3, :57.4 and 1:25.3. But the leader proved no match for Ultion Face S, who trotted his final quarter in :27 and looked like he could have gone more for trainer Per Engblom and owners Engblom Stable LLC and Jesper Bjorn Arvenberg.
There were also two top-level trots for horses climbing the class ladder. In a $14,000 contest, Cheers Hanover and Frank Leahy met again, as they had in a Beal consolation at Pocono, and again the pocket horse won — but this time it was the Bar Hopping sophomore gelding Cheers Hanover who had his picture taken.
The pacesetter at Pocono when he was caught, Cheers Hanover this time followed Frank Leahy through fractions of :28.1, :57.2 and 1:25.3 before vacating the two-hole midway through the far turn and wearing down the front-stepper to win by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:54.1. David Miller drove the 3-year-old to victory for trainer Ron Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Jim Simpson and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby.
The $13,500 sub-feature for up-and-comers saw the Aperfectyankee sophomore colt Themoneyisback S get the early lead in :28.4, yield to sit behind Flightline through middle fractions of :57.4 and 1:25.4, pop out on the far turn and go right to the lead, and then march off to defeat Alwayswithus by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:54.3. Flightline held for third. Themoneyisback S is trained and was driven by Jim Oscarsson and is owned by his Oscarsson Racing Stable Inc.
Racing at Philly resumes on Friday (Aug. 29) at 12:25 p.m., with distaff pacers in the spotlight. Next Friday, Sept. 5, Harrah’s Philadelphia will proudly host a $1.4 million card headlined by the four $300,000 Championships for the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for the four divisions of 2-year-olds, plus $50,000 consolations. Frantic Hanover (colt pace) and Ginger Tree Lex (filly trot), winners of all four of their preliminaries, will look to sweep their respective divisions.
Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.