Direction points to victory lane in seasonal debut

CHESTER, PA – Two $13,500 conditioned events, one on each gait, were the highlighted harness racing over a “sloppy” track on a cool and damp day at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Friday (May 10).

The top pacing contest was for fillies and mares, and the Always B Miki filly Direction made a successful seasonal debut in it, winning in 1:55 for her fifth triumph in but seven lifetime starts. Direction was last of seven behind the early fractions of :28.3 and :58, but then got into a lively cover flow behind E A Audit before the 1:26.4 three-quarters, continued to gain on the far turn, and ran down E A Audit by three parts of a length for trainer Brett Pelling and Diamond Creek Racing. Direction’s driver, Jack Pelling, was top pilot of the day at Philly with three visits to Victory Lane.

DIRECTION REPLAY

In the marquee event for trotters, the Conway Hall mare Cantkeepmiasecret raced on an open lead for almost all of the mile, putting up splits of :28.1, :57.1, and 1:27 before easily keeping pocketsitter Wallandar at bay by 3¼ lengths in a 1:56.1 mile. Andrew McCarthy guided the winner to victory for trainer Nik Drennan and owners Robert Weinstein and Patrick O’Brien.

CANTKEEPMIASECRET REPLAY

The racing week at Harrah’s Philadelphia concludes on Sunday with a 12:40 start. Jack’s Shadow N will be looking for his second straight win in the featured $13,000 tenth race fast-class handicap pace, but he will have to overcome both strong opposition and the outermost starting slot in the field of six. Free Harrah’s Philly [program are or will be available at www.phha.org.

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

From the PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia