When you are good, you are good! When you are hot, you are hot! A pair of five-year-old pacers, Hal N Sammy and Danikova, fit both clichés to a T on Friday night (Jan. 24) winning their respective lucrative championships in the first pair of finals in the popular Claim To Fame series’ currently underway at Miami Valley Raceway.

Both swept their series undefeated by winning a pair of preliminary legs leading up to the final as well.

Hal N Sammy (Brett Miller) scored in 1:54.1 on the rain dampened oval over Hell On Wheels (Aaron Merriman) and Hopetobefirst (Trace Tetrick) in the horses and geldings division for $12,500 claimers. The gelded son of Yankee Cruiser banked $26,250, including the winner’s share of the $25,000 final, in the three week span after winning just $22,673 in 29 starts last season. Owner Gregory Gardner and trainer Brandon Piguet were racing the champion in $10,000 claiming events leading up to the start of the $12,500 series.

The improving winner paid $7 after exploding from the pocket to collar pacesetting Hell On Wheels in mid-stretch.

Danikova (Chris Page) was crowned queen of the division for $20,000 claiming mares when she also completed a sweep of her series with a nose decision over Velocity Lana (Aaron Merriman) and longshot Model (Trevor Smith). The daughter of Bettors Delight overcame an overland journey from far back to nip the pacesetting runner-up in the final stride of the exciting 1:55 mile.

The winner’s share of the $30,000 final boosted Danikova’s series earnings to $36,250 and her lifetime bankroll to $163,947. She was bred and is still owned by Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and the M1 Stable. She returned $8.80 at the mutual windows.

The $25,000 Mares Open also featured a repeat winner in Golden Paradise (Trace Tetrick). Sitting the pocket trip throughout, the six-year-old mare wore down the front-runners and then held off closers Sandy Sue (Chris Page) and Debt Motivated (Brett Miller) to cop the 1:53.4 victory. Golden Paradise’s bankroll swelled to over a quarter million dollars with the triumph for trainer Tyler George and his partners Sam Schillaci and Wrenn Jr. Racing LLC.

Racing resumes Saturday night (Jan. 25) with a 14-race card highlighted by a $25,000 Open Pace and the $32,500 final of the Claim To Fame Series for $20,000 male pacers.

(Miami Valley Raceway)