by PHHA/Harrah’s Philadelphia

Chester, PA — Three-year-old fillies were featured in $30,000 divisions of the Liberty Bell stakes series at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 12), with three divisions for trotters and two for pacers. The winners were Bella Glos, Hey Blondie, Alexa’s Power, Follow Streak and Strong Opinion.

Three-year-old trotting fillies
Bella Glos, who made a break as the favorite in the recent Pa. Stallion Series final, recovered in fine fashion Wednesday, taking a new mark of 1:54. Some late first turn confusion caused by a breaker had four horses in a field of six parked at the quarter pole and one in the infield. Driver Yannick Gingras, however, kept the Cantab Hall filly out of most of the trouble. They made the lead passing the stands the first time, and came home in :56.3 with a final quarter-mile in :27.4 to be four lengths clear at the wire. Jimmy Takter trains the winner for Black Horse Racing.

Follow Streak, who won that Stallion Series finale, made it three straight wins and seven victories in 10 seasonal starts as she went wire-to-wire in 1:55.4. The Donato Hanover miss was two lengths clear at the wire as she moved her lifetime bankroll to $142,391 for trainer Julie and driver/husband Andy Miller. Follow Streak is owned by the Andy Miller Stable Inc. and Lawrence Dumain.

A hard rain started to fall as the horses warmed up for the final division, but the moisture didn’t seem to bother Hey Blondie, as she gave Cantab Hall a stakes siring double with a win in 1:54.4. Last week Hey Blondie couldn’t catch S M S Princess in the Pa. Sire Stakes consolation, this week she turned the tables by rallying from the pocket for driver Andrew McCarthy into a :56.2 half-mile to go by the pacesetter by a half-length, raising her earnings to $439,535. Chuck Sylvester trains the winner for Steve Jones, Mary Kinsey Arnold, Paul Bordogna, and David McDuffee.

Three-year-old pacing fillies
Alexa’s Power and Sidewalk Dancer were the heavy favorites in their sidewheeling stakes division, and they put on a good battle in the last part of the mile, with the Somebeachsomewhere filly Alexa’s Power able to gain out of the pocket in a :27.2 last quarter to catch the pacesetter by a head while taking a new mark of 1:50.3. The Jim Campbell-trained filly, a winner of $405,195 for Jeffrey and Michael Snyder, was driven by Tim Tetrick – who had gone in 1:50.1 with world champion Put On A Show in 2010, a clocking Alexa’s Power didn’t miss by much.

The rainstorm mentioned above didn’t last long as the sun was out during the next race, but it had done just enough to turned the track “sloppy” for the second section. In that event Gingras completed a stakes double as the Well Said filly Strong Opinion, like Follow Streak a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes consolation winner, followed up with another pacesetting effort. She then held off the strong-closing Scuola Hanover by a neck in 1:52.3. Ron Burke conditions the winner of $259,448 for the partnership of Burke Racing Stable LLC; Jack Piatt II; Silva, Purnel & Libby; and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.

FINISHING LINES – Veteran horseman Ross Croghan registered his 2,000th training win, when I’m Trigger Happy won the fourth race. Winning at a 17.6 percent rate over the years, the Croghan barn has produced almost $44 million in racetrack earnings, winning just over $9 million in 2007-2008.

Newer fans may not know that Croghan was also quite a driver in his day before he decided to focus on training and had 1822 sulky successes in a North American career starting in 1977, with his best driving year seeing him win 230 times in 1992.