J L Cruze - down the road for the easy win

The 2015 aged trotter of the year J L Cruze was in harness racing action Thursday afternoon at Harrah's Philadelphia.

The gelded son of Crazed was matched up against five other combatants in a winner's over $25,000 lifetime trot going for a purse of $25,000.

The race became a bit anti-climactic when top contender Gural Hanover (Yannick Gingras) went off stride at the quarter pole.

He was rushing up to challenge J L Cruze (John Campbell) for the lead when he made the miscue.

J L Cruze went down the road for the easy win, setting fractions of :27.3, :57, and 1:25.2.

The final time was 1:53.

Gilbert Garcia-Herrera's Escuela (Geo Napolitano Jr) drove out of third at the three-quarter mark, but settled for second.

The margin of victory for J L Cruze ($3.60) was nearly two lengths.

He is owned by Ken Wood, Bill Dittmar Jr, and Steve Iaquinta.

Mike Bozich