Chester, PA – Minoan and Oversear were the winners of the two $30,000 sections of the Liberty Bell stake for three-year-old trotting males on Friday (Oct. 30) afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, and both stopped the timer in 1:53.1 on their way to victory.
The Bar Hopping gelding Minoan, who was third at 103-1 behind the epic stretch battle between Apex and Big Ranger in this year’s Hambletonian, boosted his lifetime earnings to $430,053 for driver Andrew McCarthy and trainer Noel Daley, the latter co-owner with Patricia Stables LLC, L. A. Express Stable LLC, and Sjoeblom Racing Inc. Minoan made the lead near the :27.3 quarter, passed the midpoint splits in :56.3 and 1:25, then proceeded on strongly to win by 2½ lengths over Captain Jordan.
The International Moni gelding Oversear, purchased last week by Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Knox Services Inc., and FAC Racing LLC, provided an immediate return on their investment by setting fractions of :27.3, :56.2, and 1:24, then passing under the wire a length ahead of Captain Vodka, with Corey Callahan handling the sulky duties for trainer Ron Burke.
The pacing headliner on the day was a $13,500 pace for developing females, in which the Captaintreacherous sophomore filly Luckylady Hanover recorded her second straight victory for trainer Stacy Chiodo and Timothy Tobias Stable LLC. Driver Simon Allard also employed front-end tactics with Luckylady Hanover, who held on gamely in the face of a late charge by potential pocket rocket Andiamo in winning by a neck.
George Napolitano Jr. piloted four winners to earn the day’s sulky honors; Corey Callahan had three, and Andrew McCarthy and Simon Allard had two. Allard’s pair of winners brought his Philly total victories for the year right on the bumper of five-time defending champion Tim Tetrick, 117-116. No trainer sent out more than one winner, but Dean Eckley did have a success story from his shedrow, his 43rd of the meet, which put him one ahead of Joe Bongiorno and Scott Di Domenico.
Racing resumes at Philly on Sunday at 12:40 (after everybody, we hope, has turned back their clocks), with the three-year-old section of the Liberty Bell stakes coming to a conclusion with a pair of $30,000 divisions for pacing males. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.