Win 13,000 for George Napolitano Jr

CHESTER PA – George Napolitano Jr. drove the 13,000^th winner of his career on Friday afternoon at Harrah’s Philadelphia, rallying La Miki N into a :53.4 final half to give the Always B Miki mare a lifetime mark of 1:51 while recording his milestone triumph.

 Napolitano and La Miki N made the lead just past the midpoint of the first turn, but Wise Professor was out and brushing for the lead past the :27.4 quarter, getting a breather to a :57.1 half. There was no third quarter breather as Wise Professor blazed down the back in :26.1 for a 1:23.2 three quarter split, with La Miki N and Napolitano doing their best to stay within shouting difference.

Wise Professor carried the lead well into the stretch but began to tire a bit, and “George Nap” kept La Miki N up on the bit, finally rallied the Kiwi import to be along for a neck decision.

LA MIKI N REPLAY

Napolitano, 60, joins seven others in the 13,000 Win Club – in order, Dave Palone, Anthony Morgan, Aaron Merriman, Herve Filion, David Miller, Tim Tetrick, and Cat Manzi. Many have connections to Philly – Palone won the feature race here on Opening Day in 2007, Morgan and Miller have raced here regularly in years past. Between Tetrick and Napolitano, they have won nineteen of the twenty dashwinning titles at the Harrah’s oval – and the other leader, in the inaugural 2007 season, was Manzi.

The native of Long Island, whose horses have earned over $121 million, has found Eastern Pennsylvania to be very good to him – in addition to his eight sulky crowns and four UDR championships at Philly, Napolitano has won fifteen dash, thirteen UDR, and five training titles at Pocono, and campaigned successfully at Pompano for several years. George won the 2010 North American driving title, and he remains tied for the most wins on one pari-mutuel card with eleven.

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

From the PHHA / Harrah’s Philadelphia