Miami Valley Raceway presented a pair of $50,000 Scarlet & Gray Invitationals for state-bred three-year-old fillies on Friday (April 23) and the results of the Ohio Sires Stakes preludes were impressive.

Herculisa (Brett Miller) pinned a narrow defeat on Celebrate With Me (Chris Page) in the trot division, with Katies Lucky Day (Trevor Smith) rallying to finish third. It was the sixth win in just seven lifetime tries for Herculisa, who entered the $300,000 Ohio Sires Stakes championship last September with an unblemished five-for-five scorecard before making an untimely break in the big dance. After two stellar qualifiers, the daughter of My MVP seems to have returned for her sophomore campaign as the one to beat in the Buckeye state. This 1:54.2 win established a new lifetime mark.

Virgil Morgan, Jr. trains Herculisa for the Jesmeral Stable. Her earnings soared to $105,812 with the triumph in her initial 2021 pari-mutuel event. Miller got her away third in the early going, then made a wicked brush to the lead during the third quarter which was the fastest (:27.2) split in the race by far. Celebrate With Me, a recent purchase by Burke Racing, Howard Taylor, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Knox Services, stalked the winner throughout but couldn’t quite reach her in the stretch duel.

Lady Arthur (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) was victorious in the Scarlet & Gray filly pace, holding off last year’s O.S.S. champ Summer Tough (Chris Page) in a 1:52.3 mile, equalling the daughter of Arthur Blue Chip’s best time. Also making her seasonal debut after a pair of impressive qualifiers, Lady Arthur now owns three wins and earnings of $85,931 after a freshman scorecard of 2-1-1 in 10 starts.

Wrenn’s filly was headstrong at the start, but he was able to wrestle her briefly into the pocket before moving back to the front just past the quarter mile marker. Her only challenge came in the stretch when Summer Touch furiously closed ground before running out of room. Smothastenesewisky (Trevor Smith) rallied from far back to pick up the show money.

Dr. Ian Moore trains and co-owns Lady Arthur with partners R G McGroup Ltd. and Serge Savard.

Pace Baby Pace (Page) continued her winning ways in the $24,000 Mares Open Pace. She beat I Choose You (Mitch Cushing) and Talkaboutaqueen (Miller) in 1:52.4 for her seventh success in a dozen 2021 starts, all in Open company. The five-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou races for Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.

Racing resumes on Saturday (April 24) when another pair of $50,000 Scarlet & Gray Invitationals for Ohio’s best sophomore colts and geldings will go postward. Post time is 4:05 p.m.

(Miami Valley Raceway)