Chester, PA — Team Cancelliere, owner John and trainer Tom, rolled out their big fast-class pacing guns for their 2025 debuts on Tuesday morning (April 29) at Harrah’s Philadelphia, and both were easy front-end winners.
The Somebeachsomewhere gelding Ruthless Hanover, still the fastest Standardbred ever over a five-eighth-mile track by virtue of his 1:46.3 mile here in 2023, came out for his 8-year-old campaign impressively by putting down fractions of :29.3, :58.2, and 1:25.2 en route to a final clocking of 1:53.3 for driver George Napolitano Jr.
A race earlier, the Always B Miki gelding Maximus Miki, a 10-time winner over various mid-Atlantic ovals while earning almost $200,000 last year, teamed with Napolitano for a :28.4, :58.4, 1:27.3, 1:55.3 mile in also winning by open lengths.
Among 3-year-old pacers, the Sweet Lou colt Lou’sbodaciousboy, winner of half his two starts at two and returning with Lasix at three, was a length to the good of freshman multiple stakes-winner Royally Hot in 1:55 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Linda Toscano, and owner Conrad Zurich.
Breeders Crown finalist Makes Sense returned off a winning qualifier last week and succeeded again, the Papi Rob Hanover gelding coming home in :55.3 in a 1:55.1 mile for McCarthy, white-hot trainer Robert Cleary, and the partnership of Let It Ride Stables Inc., Celtic Racing, Odds On Racing, and Carl Howard.
The video for these qualifiers should be available later Tuesday at www.phha.org.