Chester, PA — A deluge passed through southeastern Pennsylvania midway through the Thursday afternoon (Nov. 12 )card at Harrah’s Philadelphia, starting as the horses were on the track for race 7 and then necessitating a 40-minute gap to race 8 as the track crew got the racing surface back to suitable condition. The rains, however, occurred after the two feature races of the day, both for fast-class female pacers.
The Western Terror mare Dougs Babe A lowered her lifetime mark at age 9 in posting a 1:49.3 clocking in the $13,000 higher-level fast class event. Driver Bradley Chisholm took no prisoners with the winner of $685,724, rambling down the road with splits of :27.1, :55.2 and 1:22.1 while extending her margin over the competition through the final half, eventually winning by 6-1/2 lengths. Nifty Norman trains the sharp mare for owners Tom Vassiliou and Nicholas Tallarico.
The $11,000 distaff pacing co-feature, a handicap, also produced an impressive wire-to-wire winner in the Downbytheseaside mare Factory Girl, freezing the timer at :27, :55.1 and 1:23.1 before completing the mile 2 lengths ahead in 1:51. Tim Tetrick had the sulky seat for trainer Scott DiDomenico and owner Angela Cornell.
There were two $12,000 contests for developing horses, both after the track condition had been changed to “sloppy.”
Dominican Sunshine reduced her mark to 1:53.1, the Always B Miki sophomore pacing filly swinging wide off the turn and taking the victory for driver Trae Porter and trainer Kelly Lancaster-Dailey, the latter co-owner with Joseph Cliver.
On the trot, the Greenshoe 3-year-old gelding Giuseppe C made it two straight “the hard way”: he got away last from the rail, yet still circled his field to post a 1:56.4 victory for driver Bradley Chisholm, trainer Juan Cano, and Hot Lead Farm.
The 29-year-old Chisholm was the day’s top driver with four wins. Patrick Ryder had two wins, as did Tetrick; the five-time defending Philly champion doubled his season’s lead over Simon Allard, with the tally now reading 124-122 after Allard won one race. Among trainers, Kelly Lancaster-Dailey had a pair of victories, as did Dean Eckley.
Racing at Harrah’s Philly resumes on Friday (Nov. 13) at 12:25 p.m., with trotters both established and up-and-coming filling the featured slots. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.