Miami Valley Raceway has announced that it has an exciting weekend of racing and wagering in store.
The weekend includes a $10,000 guaranteed total pool in the 50-cent Lucky Pick-5 wager on Friday; eliminations for the James K. Hackett Memorial series for top Ohio-sired three-year-olds on Friday, April 14 (fillies) and Saturday, April 15 (colts); outstanding $22,000 Opens for older mares on Friday and older horses and geldings on Saturday; and a special Easter Sunday matinee.
Friday’s 50-cent Lucky Pick-5 kicks off in the tenth race with an estimated 9 p.m. post time. The nightly wager has gone unsolved over the last three programs, resulting in a $3,986.76 carryover and the resultant guaranteed $10,000 total pool in conjunction with the USTA Strategic Wagering platform. Friday’s Pick-5 sequence starts and ends with divisions of a $9,500 condition race for male pacers who are non-winners of $4,000 in their last four starts. Sandwiched between are a $10,000 claiming pace, the $22,000 Mares Open and an $11,500 condition race for distaffers under $6,000 in their last four tries.
The fourth, sixth and eighth races on Friday are a trio of $12,500 James K. Hackett Memorial filly divisions with most of Ohio’s best sophomores vying for top-three finishes in order to advance to the $40,000 championship race a week later. Type A Grey, who won 5 of 7 and earned $102,772 in her freshman campaign, is the likely favourite in the first elimination for driver Chris Page. Zoe Ellasen (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), who earned $110,008 in her first season, and Bye Bye Felicia (Chris Page), who banked $99,089, have both drawn inside in the second split. Three-time 2016 winner Maavelous (Josh Sutton), who earned $55,208 as a rookie, will likely go to post as the favourite of the third division followed by Glorious Intent.
The ‘boys’ elimination divisions of the Hackett will be presented on Saturday in races four, seven and nine. $83,000 winner Barnabas (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and $70,000 winner Drunk On Your Love (Dan Noble) will square off in the first split with seven other rivals. All nine of the horses took fast records as two-year-olds. Pace Cars $70,406 in freshman earnings top the ten combatants in the second heat, which on paper looks like a most competitive field. Rons Pro (Chris Page) earned $80,000 as a two-year-old and likely will get the betting nod in the final elimination. All ten in the field took freshman speed badges of 1:57 or faster, however, and nine of the ten earned over $30,000 in their first season on the track.
Saturday’s $22,000 Open Handicap features a full field of ten who have each earned between $110,000 and $504,000 in their careers. Collectively, they have 185 lifetime wins and nine of the ten featured horses have paced in 1:51 or faster within their two most recent starts.
Post time for the Friday and Saturday night programs is 6:05 p.m. The Easter Sunday matinee will begin at 2:05 p.m.
(Miami Valley Raceway)