CHESTER PA – The second year Heaven Needs Me, a changed son of Captain Midnightwon for the second time in a row by winning Sunday’s $12,000 pacing feature for developing harness racing horses at Harrah’s Philadelphia, with the 1:52.3 win narrowly missing his lifetime best.
HEAVEN NEEDS ME REPETITION
Heaven Needs Me has come up short in recent starts, but today driver Simon Allard sent him to the right, where he posted moderate early fractions of :28.2 and :57. Heaven Needs Me then sprinted home in :55.3 – :27.3 to maintain a safe lead over first challenger In The Moonlight, winning for trainer Clay Faurot Jr. and owner Chelsey Faurot.
Fast pacers battled for $11,000 in a race won impressively by the Bettor’s Delight gelding Leave It To Leo in 1:51.4. Sure, the factions were fast, but Leave It To Leo still had to come uncovered from sixth just before halftime (capping his third quarter in :26.4). His forward mission never failed as he defeated Back Pocket Miki 40-1 for driver Corey Callahan, trainer Dylan Davis and the combination of Stephen Messick, Michael West and Dylan Davis Racing.
In the $11,000 claiming handicap pace for the top-priced horses in Philly, another Bettor’s Delight gelding took the win. The Santafe coach, who won a Hempt Pace elimination in 2017, showed he still has plenty of life left in his legs when he took advantage of a pocket trip and was in 1:53.2 ahead of driver Anthony Napolitano in a rare appearance in Philly. Trainer Darren Taneyhill and PT Stable lost the horse here for a claim of $22,000, but in his four starts for that pair since being claimed by them on September 20, ‘Coach’ had earned $10,050, and they also got $2000 more than what they paid to acquire him.
Mark Herschberger and George Napolitano Jr. shared the driving honors of the day with three wins each. Two of Herschberger’s scores came for trainer Eddie Sager, the lone conditioning double.
The Liberty Bell Stakes series will be held at Harrah’s Philadelphia over the next two Thursdays and Fridays, with two stakes divisions each day. On Thursday, two-year-old stallions raced for a total of $133,200; three-year-old fillies go during a card on Friday with a special post time of 2:30, as it is Breeders Cup weekend. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.pha.org.
For full race results, click here: American trotting results.
From the PHHA/Harrah’s Philadelphia
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