Harrah's Philadelphia: Niki Hill impressive in Tuesday qualifier

The three-year-old pacing filly Niki Hill, last year's divisional champion, was a strong-finishing winner in her qualifier on Tuesday morning at Harrah's Philadelphia, with two-time divisional champion Lyons Sentinel a rapidly-closing second in her first trip behind the starting gate this year in another qualifier.

The Always B Miki filly Niki Hill had cut the mile in her first seasonal qualifier only to be caught by half-a-length by Treacherous Dragon, who went on to win her 2022 purse debut at Pocono this past Sunday (May 8). In this event, Niki Hill was taken back to fifth in a six-horse field by driver Dexter Dunn, who unleashed her going down the backstretch and covered the last half in 55 1/5 - 26 4/5 to complete a 1:54 3/5 victory over a "+1 variant" racetrack in heavy winds. The winner of $904,557 has been brought to readiness by trainer Chris Ryder for owner Tom Hill.

Lyons Sentinel, top older mare of last year and a winner of $2,003,944 in her career, paced her first quarter in 30 2/5 in getting away third in her qualifier -- and then came her back three-quarters in 1:23, with her own last quarter in 27 for driver Tim Tetrick, in finishing 1 3/4 lengths behind Mach Doro A. The race will serve as a useful prep for the Captaintreacherous mare, who is trained by Jim King Jr. for Threelyonsracing.

Given the events of this last Saturday, a word is in order about racewinner Mach Doro A -- who wasn't even on the original list of entries for the qualifier, being "added on" at the last minute, like a certain horse in Louisville named Rich Strike. Mach Doro A is a good horse in his own right, with earnings of $509,561 and a mark of 1:49 4/5 taken last year -- at age 10 -- in a Philly qualifier!

And as for Team Tetrick / King, they won on Tuesday with two sophomores who are already quite familiar with Niki Hill from competition last year -- the Sweet Lou filly Lyons Serenity, who tacked on a 27 last quarter in her 1:54 2/5 engine triumph for Threelyonsracing, and the Captaintreacherous miss Captain Cowgirl, who made every pole a winning one in 1:54 2/5 - 27 3/5 for owners Jo Ann Looney-King and Kenneth Frieder.

Replays of the above qualifiers can be viewed here.

-edited release (Harrah's Philadelphia/PHHA)