Chester, PA — Benjamin Hanover, despite being handicapped outside to post seven, had too much for his opposition in Friday’s (Dec. 27) $15,000 fast-class handicap trot at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Driver Johnathan Ahle had the Sebastian K S gelding up on the gate and eyeing early position, but the pair tucked in fifth as All Wrapped Up made two moves to control the fractions of :27.3 and :57.1. Benjamin Hanover then put in a relentless uncovered grind, going his own back half in :55.3 to get closer to the leader by the 1:25.2 three-quarters before trotting on strongly to defeat the leader by two lengths in 1:54 for trainer Scott DiDomenico and owner Angela Cornell. The 4-year-old knows how to win: this was his 12th success in 22 seasonal starts, and lifetime his scorecard reads 19-for-32.
In the $14,000 sub-feature trot, Intl Blockade, a sophomore International Moni gelding, had a similar journey as Benjamin Hanover, taking back after contemplating an early move from post seven then coming on the attack and trotting his last half in :56.3. Intl Blockade had the advantage of being in a lively cover flow, and he overhauled first-over Ahadi AS by a half length in 1:56.4 for driver Corey Callahan, trainer Ron Burke, and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
Pacing distaffs had a feature as well, a $13,000 contest in which Blood Moon A, on an uncovered second move, was able to beat out the resurgent Rec Time by a head in 1:55.2. The winning daughter of Pet Rock, trained by Jeff Cullipher for Pollack Racing LLC, was driven by 21-year-old Brett Beckwith.
Ahle had four winning steers on the Friday card, three of them for DiDomenico, the only trainer who tripled. Callahan posted three driving wins.
There are two cards left on the 2024 calendar at Harrah’s Philadelphia. Sunday’s (Dec. 29) racing will start as usual at 12:40 p.m. with a $669.54 carryover into the Pick-5 (races 5-9), and the year will close out with a New Year’s Eve (Tuesday, Dec. 31) card beginning at 4 p.m. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.