Chester, PA — Donttellmeagain, the last horse to have won a race against 2018 Horse of the Year McWicked (at Hollywood Dayton Raceway in late September), came out sharp in his 2019 bow at Harrah’s Philadelphia in a Tuesday morning (April 2) qualifier, coming his own back half in :53.4 to trip the timer in 1:52.2.

Tim Tetrick was behind the Jim King Jr. trainee, and the pair got away fifth from the outside seven post, then moved with a backstretch flow and re-tucked third as Sicily brushed to the lead. Donttellmeagain moved out again in the stretch, but the $500,000-plus-winning Sicily proved hard to overhaul, but overhauled he finally was by the 5-year-old Dragon Again gelding, a neck to the good for Paton Racing Stables Inc.

“We’ve got some really high hopes for him this year,” King said. “He did some pretty good stuff last year as a 4-year-old. He was competing with Lazarus and McWicked and those horses and surely didn’t get shamed. He thickened up good (over the winter) and is a lot stronger. He’s not any taller and you look at him and think how could it possibly be (that he is so good). But he is just a little machine.

“We’ll look at the calendar and see what we want to do (next). He’s paid up to every place that would take our money. He’s a pretty good little fella. We’re looking forward to the year with him and seeing where it goes.”

Among the 3-year-olds who qualified impressively were:

• The McArdle filly Queen Of The Pride, who won her Ohio Sire Stakes championship last season, coming home in :27.4 to post a 1:52.4 victory for driver David Miller and trainer Kevin Lare;
• Practical Cat, a Muscle Hill $230,000 yearling, who won handily in 1:55.2 for driver Yannick Gingras and trainer Per Engblom;
• And the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes misses Philly Hanover and Rockn Philly, with the former edging the latter by a half-length in 1:56.3 for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Ron Coyne Jr.

— Ken Weingartner also contributed to this report