Chester, PA — Thisguyisonfire again lived up to his name on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 13) at Harrah’s Philadelphia, taking his fourth decision in his last five trips to the gate with a 1:55.1 victory in the $18,000 headlining trot.

Andrew McCarthy got the son of Yankee Glide away third behind pace-setting Majestic Presence and favored Fashion Creditor as fractions of :28.3 and :57.4 were put up. Thisguyisonfire decided to put some heat on the leader late on the backstretch, and by the 1:26.3 three-quarter pole he was ready to sweep past the pacesetter.

Fashion Creditor got out behind the winner mid-turn as the rest of the field was left behind and gave a good accounting of himself in the stretch, but Thisguyisonfire prevailed by a length.

Trainer Chris Lakata and owner Richard Mishkin now have two wins and a second since acquiring this horse in mid-November, with $23,000 in earnings a good rate of return for less than a month of investment.

In the $17,000 co-featured trot, the Kadabra gelding Mr Houdini used two speed moves before the three-eighths to control the pace, then went on to post a new lifetime best of 1:55.3. Clive Bigsby, the favorite, had bad racing luck and was shuffled, then finished with a rush but came up 2-1/4 lengths behind the winner, who was driven by Yannick Gingras for trainer Ron Burke and the ownership of Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi.

Driver Marcus Miller got behind a pair of horses who were a combined 0-for-56 in 2018 and generated mutuel gold with a pair of longshot victories.

The first win came behind the pocket rocket Myell’s Rockstar ($67.80) in the second race; then in race 12, taking advantage of a 1-2 shot and an 8-5 shot both off-stride before the first turn, Miller went wire-to-wire with Aldebaran Eureka, lighting up the toteboard at $63.

Marcus Miller is only the second driver to have two $50-plus horses on one card at Harrah’s in 2018. Eric Carlson turned the trick, in consecutive races, on Sept. 5.