Pass The Vape passed his first major test of his sophomore season on Tuesday, April 17, capturing the $40,000 championship leg of the inaugural running of the James K. Hackett Memorial for Ohio-sired three-year-old colt trotters.
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Driver-trainer Derek Watiker popped the pocket at the head of the lane to trot home in front in 1:55.1 in his $15,000 Hackett elimination a week ago, but decided to take no prisoners in the final. Leaving strongly from post seven, the son of Dejarmbro encountered only limited resistance while cutting modest fractions in progress to a 1:57.3 victory. Pass The Vape held favoured Sultan Of Cash, the other elimination winner, at bay by one-and-one-half lengths to score his fourth win in just six lifetime starts.
In his two wins as a two-year-old, both at Ohio county fairs, the excitable colt overcame breaks in stride to still win.
The next big test for Pass The Vape will be in the $50,000 Scarlet & Gray Invitational at Miami Valley on Saturday, April 28. Sultan Of Cash and third-place finisher Sand Cash also stamped themselves automatic invitations to Miami Valley’s newest event, the four Scarlet & Gray Invitationals sandwiched between the Hackett championships and the first leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes season on MVG’s closing weekend.
Started in 1971 at Lebanon Raceway, the Hackett Memorials have featured Ohio's best juvenile pacers, but finals for trotters weren’t added until 2018 by Miami Valley Raceway.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)