Chester, PA — Younger horses looking to climb up the classification ladder were featured in two $12,000 events at Harrah’s Philadelphia on a warm Sunday (June 23) afternoon.
The Great Challenger gelding Inferno DK (Tim Tetrick) evened up his North American record – two breaks, and now two wins after taking a new mark of 1:54.3 in the trotting section of the feature class. Tetrick got no misbehavior from his charge today as he came home in :56.2 while in full control for trainer-owner Yinson Quevada.
A handicap pace for feature-level males showed that the Always B Miki gelding Always B Gibby (Jack Pelling) is in career form, as he won for the second straight start, here parlaying a pocket trip into a win in a lifetime best 1:51 with a :27.1 sprint home. Pelling worked out the top trip with the winner, who is trained by Nifty Norman (the only conditioner with two wins on the day) for LSC Stables.
In an $11,000 pace for fast-class veterans, Belmont Royale N (Mark Herschberger) was out most of a :26.1 quarter to get the lead, then forced hard work from Bettor Not Talk (Tetrick) before surrendering the lead to that one and sitting behind him in middle fractions of :54.1 and 1:22. In the stretch Herschberger directed Belmont Royale N to the passing lane, and the winning Betterthancheddar gelding gained enough on the tough pacesetter to go by him by a neck in 1:49.1. That time is a new career best for the Nifty Norman trainee, who is owned by Archie McNeil, William O’Donnell, and Enzed Racing Stable Inc.
Green and gold were the colors of the day at Philly, accounting for half of the drivers of the winners: the track’s leading driver, Tim Tetrick, recorded three victories, while Troy Beyer and Corey Callahan had driving doubles.
Racing resumes at 12:25 p.m. this “Trottin’ Thursday,” with all manner of good contests for diagonally-gaited horses. Philly will then follow with cards on Friday at 12:25 and Sunday at 12:40, and then on July 2 will add 12:25 live cards for the five Wednesdays of July. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.