When Sweet Oliver captured the 14th race on Saturday (May 7), it closed the curtain on a very successful ninth season of live harness racing at Miami Valley Raceway.

The 87-day meet included 1,198 races, an average of 13.77 per card, with a total purse distribution over $16 million.  The average nightly total purses was $184,000, which equates to an average purse over the course of the meet of $13,800.

Average daily all-sources handle exceed $500,000 for the second consecutive season.  

“We’ve come a long way since we opened in 2014, when the daily handle averaged $142,500,” said Ken Rambo, Director of Racing.  “We experimented with a new race calendar and an earlier post time this year and it did not seem to significantly impact our business numbers.”

On the track, Brett Miller was crowned dash champion for the third time since he returned to Ohio four years ago.  With 147 victories in 87 days, he outdistanced Trace Tetrick, who finished with 139.  A total of six drivers surpassed the 100-win plateau with eight total reinsmen earning over $1 million in purses with their mounts.

The top 11 drivers averaged over a win for every two cards.  They were:  Brett Miller (147), Trace Tetrick (139), Dan Noble (127), Chris Page (123), Tony Hall (109), Tyler Smith (109), Kayne Kauffman (76), Jeremy Smith (68), Josh Sutton (65), Sam Widger (47) and Trevor Smith (45).

On the training side, Ron Burke won his second Miami Valley title harnessing 59 winners, good for just over $1 million in purse earnings.  Also on the Top 10 list were: Tyler George (41), Jason Brewer (34), Virgil Morgan Jr. (28), Christi Noble (28), Kayne Kauffman (25), Mike Hitchcock (24), J. D. Perrin (20), Patricia Brewer (20), Todd Luther and Chris McGuire (19 apiece).  

A total of 33 trainers won at least 10 races during the meet while 42 had stable earnings in excess of $100,000.

The percentage of winning favourites for the meet was 38.31 percent.  The No. 5 post position proved most prolific with 18.3 percent of starters from directly behind the gate winning 219 times.  It was the eighth season in the first nine at Miami Valley that No. 5 starters ruled the roost.

“We want to thank and congratulate our racing staff as well as the horsemen and women who participate at Miami Valley for another outstanding season,” said Gary DeWitt, Assistant General Manager. “We are gratified by the 2022 results, but look forward to even bigger and better things in 2023!”

(With files from Miami Valley Raceway; Photo of Burke Stable second trainer Jason Irwin and Brett Miller)