Harrah's Philadelphia: Little Road wires her competition in Liberty Bell

Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion and Breeders Crown elimination winner Little Road continued her winning ways in the $45,000 Liberty Bell stake for 3-year-old trotting fillies on Friday afternoon at Harrah's Philadelphia, where morning rains made the track "sloppy" early on, a rating which was later changed to "wet-fast," that latter period including the stake.

Driver Brady Brown, who is enjoying this season's big ride behind the talented filly as much as anybody, sent the daughter of Fordham Road to the lead in the vicinity of a 27 1/5 quarter, then backed down the pace to 56 2/5 at the half. I Take The Cake started an uncovered bid before the 1:24 3/5 three-quarters, and pocket-sitter Chestnut Hill stayed closely-attached to the front action, but neither could go enough to pass Little Road, who stopped the timer in 1:52 4/5, a length ahead of I Take The Cake, with Chestnut Kelly another three-parts of a length behind.

Little Road ran her seasonal scorecard to 11 wins in 17 starts, and lifetime she is 17-for-27, worth $403,295 to her breeder-owner-trainer, the legendary 80 years young Roger Hammer.

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For the distaff overnight set, there were two $13,000 divisions of a fast-class handicap pace, both taken by horses who controlled the first-half, then had remarkable speed coming home. The quicker was the Stay Hungry sophomore filly Lyons I Wanna Chip, who set reasonable fractions of 27 seconds and 56 1/5, then sped home in 54 4/5 - 27 flat to beat out pocket-sitter Please Be You by two lengths in 1:51 over a track rated "wet-fast." Corey Callahan drove the talented 3-year-old, a winner of eight races in 15 sophomore starts, for trainer Petter Engblom and Threelyonsracing.

The Huntsville mare Hunting Hula got even softer fractions, 28 1/5 and 58 1/5, over a track still rated "sloppy" for her division, then had a pair of 27 1/5 quarters left in the tank to hold off her main rival, the first-over Strutsville, by a length in 1:52 3/5. Hunting Hula is now two-for-two since coming under the sponsorship of trainer Enrico Robinson and owner Pollack Racing LLC., with Mark Herschberger in her sulky for this victory.

Herschberger won the first three races on the Friday card en route to a four victory day, taking him to third-place in the local standings. Tim Tetrick, the five-time defending Philly sulky champ, drove two winners to put him that many victories ahead of Simon Allard in the 2026 derby. No trainer doubled, but Scott Di Domenico did send out the winner of the last race to take a 45-44 lead over Dean Eckley, as the win races in both horsemen's columns have been back-and-forth for weeks now.

Harrah's Philadelphia's racing week, and the Liberty Bell stakes' stay for the season, will both close out with a 12:40 p.m. (EST) card on Sunday, which will feature 3-year-old pacing fillies racing for $47,250 in 2026's last Liberty Bell event.

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