from the PHHA /Harrah’s Philadelphia

Chester, PA — Deep Impact and Impacter, half-brothers out of the Yankee Glide mare Glide Power, may have close genetic backgrounds, but the routes they took in winning the twin $14,500 featured trots at Harrah’s Philadelphia Thursday (Oct, 4) couldn’t have been more different.

The Donato Hanover 5-year-old gelding Deep Impact was first to race, and driver George Napolitano Jr. pointed the class dropper right to the front, getting the quarter in :27.3, then resting to a :58.2 half before reigniting the speed. Deep Impact reached the three-quarters in 1:26.1 en route to a 1:55 victory, three lengths clear at the finish, for trainer Åke Svanstedt and the Van Camp Trotting Corporation.

A year younger than his half-brother, Impacter had no straight shot on the lead to Victory Lane. Trainer/driver Vince Copeland tucked the altered son of Muscle Hill third in a :27 opener, kept him in past a :56.2 half, then backed him out to third-over position well before the 1:25.2 three-quarter clocking. When the horses in front of him didn’t gain quickly through the turn, Copeland sent Impacter four-wide into the lane, and he got to the wire first in 1:55.4, three-quarters of a length ahead of Shady Mccoy, for owner David D. Miller.

The Friday card at Philly will be an evening one, starting at 6:30 p.m. After the usual Sunday action beginning at 2:05 p.m., there will be a special live card on Columbus Day Monday (Oct. 8) at 12:25 p.m., with more than $200,000 in stakes action in the John Simpson Sr. series, with 3-year-old colts of both gaits each contesting three divisions.