Battling Brad winners

The first legs of the Battling Brad late-closer series were held Sunday at Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack, with one longshot and one prohibitive favorite accounting for the two $20,000 divisions.

Benefiting from a heady drive by George Napolitano Jr., Franklin Cardinale’s Real One And Only cleared from post position seven and made every pole a winning one as he scampered to a half-length victory in the first division. Realiscape and driver Tim Tetrick, who were parked out for much of the race, raced well to be second, with Rusty’s Revenge third. The winner covered the mile in 1:52.4.

“There’s not much to say other than he loves the front end and today he was very good,” reported Napolitano. “Sometimes his head check comes off behind the gate, so today we went without it and it worked out well.”

Real One And Only returned a win mutuel of $33.20 to his backers. He is trained by William Vandervort Jr.

In the second division, driver Tim Tetrick avenged his earlier defeat by piloting 3-10 favorite Lather Machine to a tour-de-force triumph over Pilgrims Raindrop and Karbonator. Second after a :27 opening quarter, Lather Machine grabbed the lead as the field approached the finish line for the first time and clicked off the remaining fractions of :56 and 1:24.2 en route to a final clocking of 1:51.4.

“This is one of the fastest horses I have driven in a while,” said Tetrick. “I was very confident coming into the race. He’s been rank in the past, but we made some bit changes and today was like a Cadillac. I tapped him once down the stretch, but that was it.”

Lather Machine is owned by Gary and Barbara Iles of Harrington, Del., and is trained by Bobby Clark.

The Battling Brad is open to non-winners of eight extended pari-mutuel races or $40,000 lifetime. The second leg of the series is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 3, with the $40,000 final slated for Sunday, Dec. 10. (Harrah's Chester)

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