by Mike Bozich, for Harrah’s Philadelphia

Chester, PA — It was a beautiful mid-November afternoon on Sunday (Nov. 15) at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with plenty of sun and the temperatures in the middle 50s at post time.

The featured event of the afternoon was a winner’s over $25,000 lifetime pace, going for a purse of the same amount. The heavy favorite was Rene Allard trainee E Z Noah (Brett Miller). The 6-year-old gelded son of Western Terror was coming into the day a winner of two of his last three at Yonkers versus similar competition.

He was forwardly placed right from the start from post three, taking the lead before the quarter. He set fractions of :26.3, :56.1 and 1:24.1 on the front end. He faced a middle-half challenge from Badix Hanover (Corey Callahan), who he was able to put away at three-quarters.

The fresh challenger, however, was pocket-sitter Dream Out Loud N (Pat Berry) who scorched up the passing lane to defeat the favorite by one length. The final time was 1:52. Dream Out Loud N ($19.40) won for the 24th time in his career for the Muscara Racing Stables and trainer Darran Cassar. E Z Noah settled for second, while Just A Jolt (Tim Tetrick) closed up the cones to finish third.

Although the winner’s over pace was the richest race on the card, it wasn’t the fastest. Howard Taylor’s Major Uptrend blazed the trail to the tune of a 1:49.3 clocking in race six on the card, a non-winners of $15,700 in their last five races on the pace. The 4-year-old gelded son of Somebeachsomewhere took the lead midway around the first turn and never looked back, setting fractions of :26.3, :54.3 and 1:21.4. He is trained by Doug Lewis and was driven by Corey Callahan.

With four wins on the Sunday card, leading Harrah’s Philly driver George Napolitano Jr. maintained his lead in the national driver standings over Aaron Merriman, 772-751 heading into Monday’s action. Napolitano will be in action Tuesday at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, while Merriman will be in doubleheader action Monday at The Meadows and Northfield Park.