Chester, PA — A pair of $15,300 trotting events topped the card on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 9) at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

The faster division saw two foreign-bred mares battle to the line, with the Ready Cash mare Beautifulcolibri IT winning her second straight appearance on the local scene while reducing her mile mark to 1:54.

Andy McCarthy sent the winner of $182,771 to the early lead, forcing Goo Doo Doll to tuck well before a :28.1 opening quarter mile. When Ghostintheshell S attempted a quarter-move, Beeautifulcolibri IT forced that opponent to retreat to the two-hole on the way to the :57.1 half. Bluebird Rocky offered a bid to the 1:25.3 three-quarters; when that one could no longer sustain, Ghostintheshell S again materialized out of the pocket, but Beautifulcolibri IT, trained and owned by Nancy Takter, still had a :28.2 quarter in her to fend off her foe by a neck.

In the following race, another Takter trainee, the Muscle Hill-Viva Las Lindy freshman colt Nomophobia, remained undefeated after three starts while winning in 1:58.1 for driver Yannick Gingras and owners Christina Takter and John Fielding.

The Muscle Hill gelding Vinny De Vie took the other feature division in a lifetime best of 1:55.3. Marcus Miller, who led all drivers with three victories on the day, made two early moves to control the pace, and the Tom Fanning trainee stayed strong to the finish line, turning back the first-over Boom Boom Bay by 1-1/4 lengths for owner Joseph Smith.

A pair of $14,400 conditioned races will be featured on the Friday (Dec. 10) card at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with trotters squaring off in race eight and male pacers competing in the finale of the 14-race card. Post time is 12:25 p.m.; program pages are available at the PHHA website.