Chester, PA — Hellabalou, the 2021 Adios winner making his debut for trainer Ron Burke and three of his four owning entities, completed a natural grand slam for driver Simon Allard with a 1:50.1 win in Friday’s (Aug. 26) $22,500 fast-class handicap pace at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Allard hustled Hellabalou, a son of Sweet Lou, off the gate to the lead, forcing 1-5 Komodo Beach to land in fourth as insiders defended early position. Hellabalou got to the quarter in :26.3, benefited from a big breather when he reached the half in :55.3, then continued on to a 1:22.4 three-quarters. Komodo Beach was put into play late on the backstretch and motored home in 26.3, but he still came up 1-1/2 lengths shy of the winner.

Eric Good purchased Hellabalou as a yearling in 2019, and had been the sole owner of the horse until he was joined in partnership with Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Lawrence Karr less than a week ago. Hellabalou now has lifetime earnings of $470,794.

Another Allard-driven horse knocked off a 1-5 shot in the $16,200 distaff pacing co-feature, as the Rockin Image mare Grace Rocks sat in the pocket behind Scarlett Hanover’s fractions of :27, :56 and 1:23.2 before surging clear by 3-1/2 lengths to win in 1:50.3 for trainer Dean Eckley and owner Howard Taylor. The big story in this race, though, was the heavily-fancied Mikala, who upended Test Of Faith in a Graduate leg with a :25 last quarter. Mikala was well-placed second-over behind High Minded as that one challenged hard for the lead on the far turn, but then High Minded took a couple of awkward steps and bore into Mikala as that one started to edge wide, causing her to make an interference break and also scattering the rest of the field. High Minded was placed last.

Simon Allard also won the last race on the card to give him five on the day, two of them for trainer Jeff Cullipher, who harnessed three winners on the Friday card.

A mammoth 16-race card Sunday (Aug. 28) at Philly will contain the last preliminary leg for 2-year-old trotting fillies in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Stallion Series, with the top point winners in the PASS joining their fellow top 2-year-olds on a million-dollar Championship day at Philly a week from Sunday (Sept. 4). Program pages are available on the PHHA website.