Nine Ohio Sires Stakes divisions for freshman colts and geldings will be in the spotlight Monday night (August 7), as a total of 66 trotters and pacers are set to line up behind the Northfield Park starting gate. Each division carries a purse of $40,000 in Leg 3 of the four-leg series for Ohio-bred harness horses. First-race post time for the card will be at 6:00 p.m. (ET).

A total of 28 trotting youngsters vie in four sires stakes divisions, with five freshmen each sired by Ohio stallions Dejarmbro and Manofmanymissions. Sires Break The Bank K and Cash Hall are represented by four progeny each, while Dontyouforgetit and Triumphant Caviar have three two-year-olds each in competition. Stallions with one foal each in these sires stakes contests include And Away We Go, Full Count, Keystone Savage and Winning Fireworks.

A trio of previous sires stakes leg winners will battle in the first division (Race 1), including Sugar Top, a son of Manofmanymissions conditioned by Melanie Wrenn. The youngster won Leg 2 on July 18 at Scioto Downs in 1:57 for driver Peter Wrenn and sports a bankroll of $27,340.

Icingon De Cupcake, a son of Dejarmbro trained by Scott Mogan for owners-breeders Jeff Johnson and Doug Millard, won Leg 1 on July 8 at Northfield in 2:00.4, but broke stride in Leg 2 at Scioto Downs on July 18. He’s one for three with $23,560 in career earnings.

The Herb LeVan-trained and owned Manny L has five wins in nine career starts and $34,726 in his bankroll. The son of Manofmanymissions won Leg 1 at Northfield Park in wire-to-wire fashion in 1:59.2 and also scored victories at Marysville (by more than 16 lengths) in 2:03.2 on July 23 and at Wapakoneta (by more than 15 lengths) in 2:08.3 on Aug. 1.

The second sires stakes division (Race 3) features Get The Cash, a Cash Hall gelding who won Leg 1 at Northfield Park in 1:57.3 for trainer and co-owner Kelly O’Donnell. A winner of two races in his career in four starts, Get The Cash has $28,940 in earnings thus far.

Rod Hughes, Jr.’s Sultan Of Cash will be trying for his sixth career victory in as many tries when he heads postward for the third sires stakes test (Race 5) for diagonally-gaited specialists. The bay Cash Hall gelding won his first sires stakes test at Northfield in 1:59.3; Leg 2 at Scioto Downs in 1:57.1; and won a $43,800 Ohio Fair Stake at Scioto in 1:57.2, among others. Owned and trained by Hughes, Jr., Sultan Of Cash is five-for-five lifetime with $65,515 in career earnings.

The Marty Wollam-conditioned Count On Cody will also be competing in this third division. A winner of Leg 2 in 1:57.1 on July 18 at Scioto Downs, the son of Full Count was second in Leg 1 on July 8 at Northfield Park in 1:59.4. Count On Cody has $44,575 in career earnings from two wins and two seconds in four lifetime starts.

In the five side-wheeling divisions (Race 2, 4, 7, 9, 11), a full 38 colts and geldings passed the Northfield Park entry box. Eleven sons of Pet Rock, nine from Dragon Again and five from McArdle will spar, with two sons each representing their sires Big Bad John, Im Gorgeous and We Will See. The Ohio sires Charley Barley, Mr Apples, No Pan Intended, The Panderosa, Three Olives, Woodstock and Yankee Cruiser each have one foal going postward in sires stakes competition Monday evening.

A host of previous sires stakes leg winners will be returning in hopes of garnering another trip to the winner’s circle, including track and world record holder Drew The Dragon, who posted a 1:51.4 triumph at Northfield on July 22. With Danny Noble at the lines, the Dragon Again gelding shattered the previous Northfield Park track record of 1:53.1, which was set by Barnabas (and driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) in 2016, and also established a new world record for two-year-old geldings on a half-mile track. Drew The Dragon is conditioned by Jim Dailey and has $24,750 in earnings by virtue of two wins in four starts.

The Ron Burke-trained Seeing Eye Single will seek his third consecutive victory in the series, as he triumphed in Leg 1 at Scioto Downs on July 4 in 1:53.1 and Leg 2 at Northfield on July 22 in 1:53.4 — each time by a comfortable two lengths. The $40,000-winning gelding will start from Post 3 in Race 11.

Trainer Brenda Teague will harness two outstanding youngsters, including track record holder Lather Up, who established that effort via his victory in sires stakes Leg 2 on July 27, when he paced to a winning 1:52.2 clocking and bested his rivals by five lengths. The son of Im Gorgeous also won Leg 1 at Scioto Downs on July 4 in 1:52.2 by more than four lengths. Breeders Gary and Barbara Iles of Harrington, DE own the talented youngster who owns a bankroll of $41,500. Teague’s other charge, Sip And A Bite, won Leg 1 at Scioto Downs in 1:54 on July 4, but went off-stride in Leg 2 at Northfield and finished out of the money. Teague trains the $20,000-winning son of Im Gorgeous for her brother, George. Montrell Teague will steer both of the youngsters.

Three powerhouse pacers from the Brian Brown stable will go behind the gate Monday, including Rock On Creek, a son of Pet Rock who won Leg 1 in 1:55.1 and was third in Leg 2 to Drew The Dragon. The colt has $44,175 in earnings from two wins and a second in three lifetime starts. The striking black son of The Panderosa, Slick Mick, won Leg 2 in 1:54.2 at Northfield on July 22, after finishing third in Leg 1 at Scioto Downs on July 4 for owner-breeder Milton J. Leeman of Columbus, OH. Brown’s third entrant is the Dragon Again youngster Dragonology, who won Leg 2 at Northfield in an impressive 1:53.2 after finishing second to Lather Up in Leg 1 at Scioto Downs on July 4.

Other returning winners include Harambe Deo, a bay Woodstock colt conditioned by Chris McGuire, who won Leg 1 in 1:55 at Scioto Downs before finishing fourth in Leg 2 at Northfield.

Trainer Jeff Smith will harness Letsallrock in search of his second sires stakes victory. This $29,512-winning altered son of Pet Rock won Leg 1 in 1:52.2 at Scioto Downs, but had broken equipment in Leg 2 at Northfield.

Born To Be Bad won Leg 1 in wire-to-wire fashion, timed in 1:55.1 at Scioto Downs and was second on July 22 at Northfield to Drew The Dragon. Ron Steck trains the bay son of Big Bad John who has $46,937 in his career coffers.

Last but not least is Sectionline Bigry, a homebred son of Pet Rock conditioned by Steve Bauder for Harold Lee and Harold L. Bauder of Delaware, OH. The bay gelding won Leg 1 at Scioto Downs in 1:54.2 by three and a half lengths on July 4, and then finished a solid fifth in Leg 2 from the eight-hole on July 22 at Northfield.

(OSDF)