Harrah's Philadelphia: Layoff proves no issue for still-undefeated Fashion Green

Greenshoe sired four out of the five stakes winners at Harrah's Philadelphia on Friday afternoon (unfortunately for future breeders, three of his quartet of winners are geldings, including both winners in the third preliminary leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes for sophomore trotting males).

The card, featuring $164,366 of stakes action, was an unusual afternoon in another way: all of the winners were coming off significant gaps in what would be a regular racing schedule. Fashion Green, the faster Sire Stakes winner in a new mark of 1:52 3/5, is undefeated in six starts lifetime, but four of them were in early summer of his 2-year-old year, one was April 24 of this year, and one was Friday. Whatever Jim Campbell is doing to have the trotter ready off layoffs is surely working, as the sophomore sat behind early fractions of 28 3/5 and 57 2/5, then moved uncovered to a 1:25 three-quarters and continued getting faster, coming his own back splits in 55 2/5 - 27 1/5 while looking good for driver Tim Tetrick and Fashion Farms LLC.

Greenma was undoubtedly helped when favored rival Meshuggah jumped at the start of the other cut, but despite being off for 20 days, he too would have been tough to deny today under any circumstances. Trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer sat with his horse through mild fractions of 29 and 59 1/5, but the pair then came raw, gained even with the three-quarters speeding up to 1:26 3/5, and kept on increasing the velocity, covering his back half in 54 seconds while lowering his mark to 1:53 4/5 for Purple Haze Stables LLC. It's a fair question to ask what these two might be doing on the first Saturday in August.

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All three winners in the Stallion Series action had raced in an All-Stars event at Pocono on May 18, but in the intervening 54 days, two had raced twice, and one once - yet the trio, with no previous StS victories among them, still beat seven other horses (one a doubler) who had previously won Stallion Series races. The Greenshoe that equaled the 1:54 2/5 quickest of these miles (and is the sole colt of the four winners for that sire), Manoah, was hard-used but still tallied for trainer Anette Lorentzon, owner Courant Inc. and meet-leading driver Tim Tetrick, giving him a win in both of the stakes sections while coming home first four times overall on the day.

The other 1:54 2/5 StS winner, the Bar Hopping colt Give Me A Yankee, was the one who had raced but once since that May 18 common date, but he responded sharply from the pocket to reduce his speed tab for driver Simon Allard, trainer Mark Akins, and the pair's A 1 Racing. The fourth Greenshoe winner was Green Mel, and second-time Lasix he made every pole a winning one in 1:55 4/5 - 57 - 28 2/5 for driver Andy Miller, trainer Julie Miller, and the combine of Willow Oak Racing LLC., Michael Anderson, and Andy Miller Stable Inc.

On a day where half the 14 races were won by the favorites, Sporty Dragon was driven well by Johnathan Ahle for trainer-owner Ray Burt to get home first and pay $136.20 to win – biggest price at Philly since November 10 of last year.

Racing resumes at Harrah's Philadelphia on Sunday, with a 12:40 start time.

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