The aptly named Granite returned to the winner’s circle Saturday night, winning the featured $16,000 Open Handicap Pace at Hollywood Dayton Raceway in 1:50.4.

The rock solid six-year-old son of Real Desire, who has bounced back and forth between Miami Valley, Scioto Downs, Hoosier Park, Hawthorne and Hollywood Dayton all year, captured his seventh seasonal victory and raised his 2019 bounty to $139,640 with the near gate-to-wire triumph.

Driver Jeremy Smith rushed his 4-5 favourite out from the starting car and except for a brief moment when he allowed Dancin Yankee (Tyler Smith) to clear to the pylons in front of him before quickly retaking command, stopped every teletimer in the :26.3, :55.3, 1:23 and 1:50.4 mile. Dancin Yankee held for second at the finish while longshot Townline All Good (Randy Tharps) benefitted from a ground-saving journey along the pylons to garner the show dough.

The Panhellenic Stable of New York owns Granite, who is rapidly approaching the half million dollar earnings plateau. He is trained by Ken Rucker.

Threeofthebest A (Brett Miller) copped the secondary feature, a $13,000 condition event for non-winners of $10,000 in their last four starts. The Tyler George owned and trained six-year-old Mach Three gelding rallied strongly through the stretch to catch show finisher Shagnwiththedragon (Dan Noble) and hold off runner-up Feelnlikearockstar (Trevor Smith) in 1:50.1 - a new lifetime best.

(Hollywood Dayton Raceway)