The $24,000 Mares Open Pace at Hollywood Dayton Raceway on Friday (Oct. 29) turned into quite a donnybrook with six horses still holding high hopes of reaching the line first with just 100 yards to go.

When all was said and done, Pace Baby Pace (Tony Hall) had closed furiously from sixth at the head of the stretch to win by a head over Sugar Dance (Mitch Cushing) in 1:52.3.

Another quartet of hopefuls could only be separated by the photo finish camera a little over a length in arrears. Penpaperpaige (Tyler Smith) edged Tiny Bit Of Sky (Jason Beattie), Miss You N (Brett Miller) and Mildrix (Josh Sutton) in the picture.

Penpaperpaige set the fractions of :27, :55.3 and 1:23.4 over the rain-soaked surface, with Sugar Dance occupying the pocket throughout the mile. The field double tiered prior to the halfway junction and continued to inch closer to the leader throughout the second lap on the five-eighths mile oval. The top six contenders literally swung six-wide off the final bend before Pace Baby Pace swept to the lead in the final strides with an ultra impressive final eighth of a mile.

Off at 7-1, the winner returned $16.40 to her backers. Coupled with 17-1 runner-up Sugar Dance, the $2 exacta was worth $189.80. Penpaperpage held on for third, prompting a 50-cent trifecta payoff of $166.15. Longshot Tiny Bit Of Sky just nipped heavily-favoured Miss You N resulting in a hefty 10-cent superfecta payoff of $239.85.

Burke Racing and Weaver Bruscemi LLC own Pace Baby Pace, who now has 11 wins on the season good for $135,000 in purse earnings.

Tony Hall not only won the feature race to cap off his night, but also visited the winner’s circle with three others earlier on the card. He began his Grand Slam with Fancy And Fast, who won a non-winners of four contest in 1:53.1, returning $9.80. Free Thinker (1:52.1, $14.60) gave Hall his second score in a high condition race for mares. Rainbow Design (1:52.3, $9.60) pulled the brown and gold clad reinsman to victory in the highest condition-claimer (non-winners of 10 with a $30,000 claiming tag) for horses and geldings.

Hall, a native of Franklin, Ohio, has recently returned home to southwest Ohio where his accomplished career began at old Lebanon Raceway.

Racing resumes Saturday at Hollywood Dayton with a 4 p.m. post time. On Monday, the track’s post time changes to 2 p.m., while the Tuesday, Thursday and Friday programs will continue to get underway at 4 p.m.

(Dayton)