Franzo, the former claimer, sped to his third straight Open victory at Miami Valley Raceway on Saturday night (March 11), the last two in sub-1:50 miles.

On the heels of his all-age 1:49.1 track record performance a week ago, Franzo shot to the front from his assigned outside post position this week and never looked back. Driver Dan Noble guided the five-year-old Rockin Image gelding through fractions of :26.4, :55.2 and 1:22.2 before tripping the final beam in 1:49.4.

The Adam Short-owned and trained winner was plucked from a $30,000 claimer six weeks ago and has since increased his 2017 bankroll to $61,535 on the basis of six wins in nine seasonal starts.

My Buddy Ninkster (Tyler Smith) won a tight photo finish with Angelo J Fra (Chris Page) to claim runner-up honours. As the even-money favourite, Franzo returned $4 to his legion of backers.

(Miami Valley Raceway)