A quartet of $40,000 Ohio Sires Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies featured some spectacular performances by Buckeye-bred distaffs on a special matinee program Monday at Scioto Downs.
A total of 37 side-wheeling fillies went postward on a sunny afternoon before a robust Memorial Day crowd.
The first $40,000 OSS division saw an exciting stretch duel won by the grinding Queen Ann M and driver Chris Page, who scored a 1:53.2 whisker victory over Naked By Nine (Jeremy Smith).
“My filly has a pretty flawless gait,” Page stressed. “But she was challenged today and to have two good fillies battle to the wire was pretty exciting.”
Naked By Nine made the front early, pacing through fractions of :27, :55 and 1:23 while Queen Ann M sat chilly in the two-hole. In the late going these two drew off unchallenged by their six rivals, with Its Your Fantasy (Dan Noble) getting up for third and Feelin Red Hot (Kayne Kauffman) nailing down fourth place honours.
Bred by Jay Mossbarger, Queen Ann M is a daughter of Big Bad John who upped her seasonal earnings to $50,000 and her career earnings to $151,277. Trained by Mike Roth, the robust filly is owned by Alan Keith of Pataskala, OH and Carl & Melanie Atley of Xenia, OH. Queen Ann M now has a 5-4-0 record from 12 career starts and the time of 1:53.2 was a new lifetime mark.
Driver Danny Noble took advantage of a speedy first half by Big Bad Ashley (Chris Page) and Give No Lip (Jeremy Smith) to steer Johnsbadgirl to a 1:54 clocking in the $40,000 second OSS division.
Big Bad Ashley took command of the race early, leading the field of nine fillies to a :27.1 opening panel. Give No Lip challenged on the outside, then gained the lead to another :27.1 second quarter. Positions remained unchanged to the 1:23 three-quarter marker and as the field headed into the stretch, the two leaders began to battle, while behind them a wall of horses edged closer. Just yards from the wire Johnsbadgirl came flying to put a nose in front at startling odds of 39-1.
“I thought I’d have a chance with her today if they went a fast first half and that’s what happened,” Noble said. “She’s got one really good lick in her and I was just hoping we hadn’t got into the game too late.”
Big Bad Ashley held on for second while Raiders Lastchance (Kurt Sugg) finished third but was disqualified by the stewards for going inside a pylon and placed fourth. That moved She Gone (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) up to third.
Mike Polhamus trains Johnsbadgirl, a daughter of Big Bad John, who pushed her earnings to 43,001 for owner Julie Farley, who also bred the filly.
Clarebear gave another impressive showing of herself en route to winning the third OSS division in a new career clocking of 1:54. Driven confidently by Peter Wrenn, the daughter of World Of Rocknroll sat in the back of the nine-filly field as JL Wonder Woman (Kayne Kauffman) held the front-end spot through splits of :27, :56.3 and 1:25.
At the top of the lane, Wrenn tipped Clarebear to the outside and the filly exploded with a :29 late brush to prevail by five lengths ahead of Gorgeous Road (Kurt Sugg), with Kacys Coop (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) notching third.
Trained and co-owned by breeder AJ Carlo and the C2G Stable of Lebanon, OH, Clarebear picked up her second OSS trophy in as many tries. She won the first leg at Miami Valley Raceway on May 6. Unraced as a freshman, Clarebear now has $46,450 in career earnings.
Danny Noble was back in the winner’s circle again in the fourth and final OSS division, this time with Ohsowigglesspecial, who scored her fourth straight victory in wire-to-wire fashion in 1:55.1.
Trained and co-owned by Joe Paver for Pearl Warren of Marysville, OH and Dennis Paver of Raymond, OH, the homebred daughter by Mr Wiggles upped her seasonal earnings to $54,375 and her career earnings to $81,710 via her 15th career victory.
“She’s matured a lot since last year,” Noble revealed. “Last year she raced a lot at the fairs and was on the front end most of the time so she could get pretty wound up. Now, she’s super versatile and you can do just about anything with her.”
My Tweed Heart (Josh Sutton) was second, while Hooray For Hazel (Chris Page) was third.
(Scioto Downs)