The old adage that four-year-olds struggle against older horses in Open events was discounted once again in Monday’s $30,000 Perry Lambert Memorial Open Trot at Miami Valley.

A bit leery about racing his four-year-old Explosive Matter gelding in the Open for his first seasonal start, trainer Chris Beaver ultimately agreed that Flemsteen — a winner of $107,158 as a three-year-old — was going to have to step up and face “the big boys” at this point in his career.

The result was a major upset when Flemsteen (Mitch Cushing) found a seam during an exciting stretch drive and inched past frontrunner MVP Luke (Jeremy Smith) in the final stride. Shine All The Way (Josh Sutton) rallied gallantly in the last quarter to garner the show money.

Beaver co-owns the winner with Bill Manes of Ontario and Aaron Merriman, North America’s perennial dash leader. It was Flemsteen’s ninth career win to go along with 10 second and seven third-place finishes in just 33 starts.

The final of the Robert J. “Skeeter” Brown Memorial series for non-winners of two trotters was also held on Monday with Motto (Chris Page) taking a new 1:55.1 record beating Forceful Power (Sandy Beatty) and Doo Wop Kid (LeWayne Miller) in the $22,500 event. Motto, a three-year-old son of Creatine, now has three wins in his first four lifetime tries for trainer Clarence Foulk and owners Foulk Stables and William Hartt.

Racing resumes on Tuesday afternoon with a 4:05 p.m. post time at Miami Valley.

(Miami Valley Raceway)