Saratoga Harness: P H Supercam seeks Gerrity success

Every once in a while a claimer is able to rise through the ranks and compete with some of the best in his class. On Saturday at Saratoga Raceway, P H Supercam, one of the best $30,000 buys in history, faces seven foes in the seventh annual Joe Gerrity Memorial.

A career earner of $1,114,251, P H Supercam has mostly achieved his success the hard way. Apart from winning the George Morton Levy final for a $283,500 payday back in 2014, P H Supercam has grinded his way to millionaire status with a slew of Open Handicap victories.

Unheralded as a top older pacer, P H Supercam has picked his spots, competing almost exclusively in stakes on smaller tracks. Saturday’s $260,000 Gerrity over the half-mile track at Saratoga provides another opportunity to add to his bankroll and that of regular driver Jason Bartlett.

[SARATOGA HARNESS: Video analysis for the Gerrity + Pick Four ticket]

“You can’t forget where he came from,” said Bartlett, remembering that P H Supercam was in for as cheap as a $15,000 claiming tag.

Most people think early speed is his only game, but Bartlett tells a different story. “He’s very versatile. You can kind of wait for the race to develop with him and then decide what to do. He doesn’t need the lead or the two-hole to win. He can even come uncovered,” said Bartlett.

That versatility will be tested on Saturday when P H Supercam will leave from post four versus a field loaded with potential early speedsters. Every horse in the race has had the lead after the opening quarter at least once in their last eight starts.

Favoritism figures to lean to 2014 champion and all-time track record holder Dancin Yankee, who leaves from post two with Jim Morrill, Jr. expected to drive. He finished fifth in the William Haughton Memorial at the Meadowlands last Saturday after a tough trip, but won his previous start at Pocono Downs in 1:48 4/5, the identical time he clocked in last year’s Gerrity.

The field also includes 2015 stakes winners Luck Be Withyou (post five), who won the $500,000 Ben Franklin at Pocono, and All Bets Off (post seven), who captured the Confederation Cup at Flamboro Downs in May.

P H Supercam comes into the Gerrity in fine form, with a win and two seconds in his previous three starts in the Open Handicap at Yonkers Raceway. “He raced well last week,” said Bartlett, who thought the 8-year-old was coming into form after taking off nearly all of June.

Besides P H Supercam in the seventh race on Saturday, Barlett will steer two Casie Coleman-trained 3-year-olds in New York Sire Stakes action. In the first division (race four) worth $82,687, he handles Oneisalonelynumber for the first time as a sophomore from post five. In the $84,187 second split, race nine on a 13-race program, he will once again guide Arque Hanover (post two), who finished second in Sire Stakes action at Yonkers on July 16.

“He is a nice horse,” said Bartlett of Arque Hanover. “That mile he went at Yonkers was very good. He is a top Sire Stakes horse.”

Post time for the Gerrity card at Saratoga is 7:05 p.m.