Almost Persuaded holds off rivals

HARRINGTON, DE – Bryan Truitt’s Almost Persuaded ($21.80, Russell Foster) was a 1:53.2 winner in the $22,500 Mares Open Tuesday at Harrington Raceway.

A full field of 8 went post ward in the overnight feature, as Almost Persuaded took the field to an opening quarter mile of 27.1 seconds. The field marched to the half-mile in 56.1 seconds while race favorite Stevie Hanover, who has won 3 straight, applied pressure first over to three-quarters in 1:24.3.  In the stretch, Almost Persuaded dug in and held off all comers, including a late surge from Stevie Hanover and Jett Propelled, who rounded out the top three in that order.  Trained by her owner, Almost Persuaded surpassed $100,000 in seasonal earnings with the win, as the 4-year-old Captaintreacherous mare notched her 12^th career victory.

ALMOST PERSUADED REPLAY

On the undercard, Calcutta Stable’s Earth Angel (Troy Beyer, $86.80) sprung an upset with a 1:54.2 triumph in a $18,000 Mares Open II for trainer Jason Johnson.

Live racing will go on a hiatus after the July 8 program (post time 4:30 p.m.).

 The biggest night of the year for Delaware harness racing is July 23 for the Delaware State Fair racing program (7 p.m. post time) featuring the $110,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund (DSBF) finals and longstanding races for older horses like the $50,000 Governor’s Cup.

The meet will then resume on August 17.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Matt Sparacino, for Harrington Raceway