Drama Act flies in Philly Open

CHESTER PA – The Well Said mare Drama Act, who closed powerfully from last in the Betsy Ross Pace here at Harrah’s Philadelphia last Sunday to miss only 2¼ lengths, was sent to the top in Friday afternoon’s (Jun. 2) $20,000 Open handicap pace at the southeastern Pennsylvania harness racing oval and came home in a blistering :53.2 to win in 1:50.

Several horses were interested in front-end positioning, as is usually the case at Philly and especially on this hot day; Simon Allard got the most early speed from the winner of $961,828 and grabbed the racetrack, getting to put up “soft” fractions of :27.2 and :56.3. Mikayla, who left from the outside post seven as the slight 6-5 favorite over Drama Act and settled in fourth, started an uncovered move as the field entered the backstretch, and by pacing up the backstretch in :25.3 drew almost evenly to the pacesetter by the 1:23 three-quarters, leaving the rest in the dust. Mikayla battled on gamely but couldn’t quite sustain that kind of burst, with Drama Act having enough left in the tank to prevail by a length.

Drama Act, who is owned by The OK Corral, won for the 36^th time in only 78 lifetime starts (46%). She was one of six sulky success stories on the day for Simon Allard, who even won a race where the mutuels had to be refunded because of a system failure: the event stood for racing and purse purposes.

Matching the feature’s 1:50 time was the Roll With Joe gelding Joesstar Of Mia A, who made two speed moves as the favorite to defeat Rockin On Venus by 2¼ lengths. The winner, driven by George Napolitano Jr., has now taken two straight and boosted his lifetime earnings to $619,925; Gareth Dowse is the trainer for Dowse Racing Inc.

The three-year-old pacing fillies make their debut in 2023 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes / Stallion Series action during the Sunday 12:40 card at Philly. Beach Cowgirl, undefeated lifetime and the winner of the 2022 Sire Stakes Championship in a world record 1:50, will make her 2023 debut in one of three Sires divisions. There will also be a $20,000 Open handicap for each gait, and six divisions of Stallion Series action. Program pages for all races at Harrah’s Philadelphia are or will be available here.

For complete race results, click here.

From the PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia