Chester, PA — Hellabalou, the winner of the last two Borgata Series championships at MGM Yonkers Raceway, showed he’s more than an early-season specialist by taking a new mark of 1:48.3 in Sunday afternoon’s (Aug. 4) $13,000 featured pace at Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Driver Daniel Dubé floored the accelerator early as the son of Sweet Lou put everybody behind him early in a :25.4 opener before getting a mild breather to a :54.2 half. Nobody could reach Hellabalou by the 1:21.2 three-quarters, and he remained in firm control through the lane, defeating pocket-sitter Lyons Steel by 2-1/2 lengths.
In addition to his two Borgata wins, Hellabalou has won the Adios and a Meadowlands Pace elimination en route to a career bankroll of $1,426,655. Ron Burke conditions the pacer for Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Eric Good and Lawrence Karr.
The other big story on the day was trainer Dean Eckley sending out four winners, moving him into a tie for the lead in the Philly training standings with Mark Akins and Per Engblom. Since July 15, Eckley has won 17 races from 33 starters, good for a win rate of 52 percent. Three of Eckley’s winners were driven by George Napolitano Jr., who tied Jack Pelling for top driving honors on the card with matching hat tricks.
On another side of the training stats, Josue Garcia, a 42-year-old native of Guatemala, harnessed his first winner ever when Adrenaline Rush, whom he also owns, won a first-level conditioned pace in 1:54.
Racing at Harrah’s Philadelphia goes back to a schedule of 12:25 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and 12:40 p.m. on Sundays. The next program is on Thursday (Aug. 8), which will feature many races for good horses on the diagonal gait, including a $15,000 fast-class event. Free programs are or will be available at www.phha.org.