Chester, PA – The driver sitting number six in the dash standings at Harrah’s Philadelphia has not changed his name to Johnathan Åhle – yet. But the 29-year-old from New Jersey did drive five winners from the barn of newly-elected Hall of Famer Åke Svanstedt as Philly reopened after a week dark, also adding another catch-drive victory to give him six successes on the day.
The quintet of Ahle-Åke winners were all stakes competitors who enjoyed the move to lesser company. Three of them took lifetime marks, and the five combined for a $2 win payoff of $10.50.
Ahle-Åke’s phenomenal success rate did not extend to the four feature races of the day, in which Team A/Å had three entrants and did pick up $6,375 for two seconds in those three races (and Ahle had a drive in the other and finished DH3, worth $1,300 in purses).
The Team had the favorite in the $16,000 featured fast-class handicap feature on “Trottin’ Thursday,” Hustle Rain S, coming off of two seconds in his first two North American starts. Ahle sent his horse to the front, but he had to pay a stiff toll of :26.3, :54.2, and 1:22.1 for command.
The Muscle Hill gelding My Degenerate, third in the Miecuna Trot on International Day, came with a strong rush down the backstretch to challenge the leader, and he and the pacesetter were head-to-head on the far turn when Hustle Rain S lapsed from gait. My Degenerate thus got the lead, and pocketsitter Abruzzo avoided major trouble and was the chief stretch challenger, but Tyler Miller kept My Degenerate going to take the decision by three parts of a length.
The feature’s final time was 1:51.3, just two ticks off the Philly standard for 4-year-old trotting geldings, set last year in a qualifier by Secret Agent Man, then also a member of Team Orange Crush. My Degenerate, trained by Julie Miller, is now a winner of $545,616 for Andy Miller Stable Inc., Knutsson Trotting Inc., Little E LLC, and Lindy Farms of Connecticut.
The one feature where Svanstedt did not have an entrant was in the $13,000 co-featured fast-class trot. The sophomore Muscle Hill colt Diabolic Hill had to face older opposition in this one, but after the last four races had he appeared in were won by Apex, Nix Nacken, Inexpressable, and Big Ranger, anything would look easier. And indeed Diabolic Hill went to the front and laid down splits of :28, :56.2, and 1:24.2 before stopping the timer in 1:52 for driver Corey Callahan and trainer Annie Stoebe, the latter also co-owner with Mario Mazza and AC Crawford Racing Stable.
The Miller family dodged a second shot at a track record of theirs, as the 1:52 recorded by Diabolic Hill in shedding his unwanted title of “Most Talented Horse Yet To Win in 2026” was just a fifth shy of the Philly divisional standard of 1:51.4, set in 2023 by French Wine – when he was part of “The Crush.”
The two other features were $13,500 and $12,000 trots for class-climbing youngsters, and Team “A/Å” set the pace in both but then settled for second. The faster split saw filly Maya Patel Hanover on the engine, but was overhauled by two-holer Trillion Times, a Tactical Landing colt who lowered his mark to 1:53.2 (own last half :55.3) for driver Simon Allard, trainer Petter Engblom, and Engblom Farm LLC and Kristen Marie Bartlett.
In the other, the Gimpanzee gelding Verse Nine came out of the pocket from behind Flying Copper to win handily in 1:54.3, a lifetime best, for the son-father team of driver Patrick and trainer Chris Ryder; the latter is co-owner with Frank Canzone, M3 Racing Stable, and Robert Mondillo.
Besides the multi-win exploits of “Team A/Å,” drivers Corey Callahan and Mark Herschberger had three and two wins respectively, and trainer Petter Engblom had a pair of successes.
Fillies and mares will be in the feature slots of Friday’s (Oct. 9) card at Philly, which begins at 12:25 p.m.. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.