Harrah's Philadelphia: Keep On Rocking up in time to take Great Northeast Open Series leg

Eighth on approach to the final turn, Australian import Keep On Rocking ($19.40) passed every horse but one to narrowly reach the winning post first in Sunday afternoon's (June 30) Great Northeast Open Series pacing event at Harrah's Philadelphia.

Pat Berry was patient early with the 7-year-old Rocknroll Hanover gelding, and the pair sat well off early fractions of 26 2/5 and 54 25 controlled first by speedster Tiger Thompson (Dexter Dunn) and then by Rodeo Rock (Andrew McCarthy), who brushed from third with a lap to go. Up the backstretch, Keep On Rocking angled fourth-over into a live outer flow headed by Our Max Phactor (Yannick Gingras), who forced a 27 3/5 third quarter.

As Our Max Phactor worked onto level pegging with Rodeo Rock, Keep On Rocking circled four-wide off the home turn, and was urged to sustain his rally through the stretch. Our Max Phactor worked to a mid-stretch lead, but was nabbed on the line by Keep On Rocking, whose 1:50 2/5 score gave him his fifth win of the season. Scott Rocks (Tim Tetrick), eclipsed off cover, just held third over Tiger Thompson, who emerged up the open stretch as Rodeo Rock faded.

Chris Scicluna owns and trains 21-time winner Keep On Rocking, whose 8-1 upset keyed a 4-3-9-5-6 combination in the 20-cent Jackpot Hi-5 that returned $717.44 to multiple players. As such, the carryover to Wednesday's (July 3) program has ballooned to $29,289.52.

--press release (Harrah's Philadelphia)--