Rosemary Rose kept her undefeated streak alive Friday night (April 21) at Miami Valley Raceway capturing the 46th edition of the James K. Hackett Memorial for three-year-old Ohio-sired fillies in 1:53.1.
Driver Mike Wilder took no prisoners with the odds-on favourite in the $40,000 championship race, springing from the gate and heading the classy final field through fractions of :27, :56 and 1:24.3, widening her lead around the final turn, and then holding fast-closing runner-up Full Body Shot (Mike Micallef) at bay by one and three-quarter lengths at the finish. Won For Gigi (Peter Wrenn) got the show dough by finishing three lengths behind the winner.
Ron Burke trains the sophomore daughter of Foreclosure N for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Jason Melillo and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. Rosemary Rose is now five-for-five in 2017 after a freshman season in which she was two-for-two. Her half of the $40,000 purse bumped her earnings to $83,050.
With the Hackett championship, Rosemary Rose was automatically issued the first invitation to compete in one of the four new $50,000 Scarlet and Grey Invitationals on Miami Valley’s closing program on Monday, May 8. She will likely see her next action, however, on Monday, May 1 as a prohibitive favourite in a $40,000 division of the first leg of the 2017 Ohio Sires Stakes program.
While the Hackett Filly Championship was won by the public choice, a huge longshot found the winner’s circle following the $22,000 Mares Open Pace on Friday. A Little Starstruk, with North America’s dash leader Aaron Merriman in the sulky, upset a full field of the best mares in the Midwest at 29-1 odds.
The six-year-old daughter of Well Said was plucked from a $15,000 claimer just over a month ago by owner/trainer Chris McGuire. After winning a $20,000 claimer two weeks ago, she was entered in Open company but drew an outside post last week and finished sixth, although she paced her mile in 1:52.4.
This week she drew inside, raced in sixth along the pylons as her adversaries did fierce combat through fractions of :27, :54.3 and 1:23, and then slid up the inside before finding a seam and angling out to edge fellow longshot Art I Sweet (Ken Holliday) in deep stretch. Safe From Terror (Dan Noble) closed fastest of all to garner show laurels.
A Little Starstruk now boasts 22 lifetime wins and $219,002 in earnings.
Racing resumes Saturday night (April 22) at Miami Valley when the features will be the $40,000 Hackett Memorial Championship for pacing colts and a $20,000 Open Pace.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)