Dragon By The Sea cut the mile for the father/son duo of trainer Jeff Smith and driver Tyler Smith to win the $32,877 Fillies and Mares Open II Handicap Pace on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway.

Scratched down to a field of eight, a trio of pacers fired off the wings – Dragon By The Sea, Adashious Hanover (Sam Widger), and Naked On A Hill (Chris Page) – and after the early dust settled, it was Dragon By The Sea on top at the quarter in :25.4. Smith was looking for a second-quarter breather, but Naked On A Hill applied steady pressure past the half in :54. 

Naked On A Hill began to fade down the backstretch and allowed Dragon By The Sea to open up by two lengths at three-quarters in 1:21.2. The pocket-sitting Adashious Hanover couldn’t get any closer than the final margin of 2-3/4 lengths, with Dragon By The Sea crossing the line in 1:50.3. A late rally by Foxy Hill (Luke Hanners) resulted in a third-place finish over Yankee B Something (Tony Hall).

The winning five-year-old Downbytheseaside-Prima Dragon mare is owned by John Van Horn. Dragon By The Sea scored the 19th win of her career in 77 starts and raised her earnings to $499,878. She paid $7.40 to win.

In a $19,178 conditioned pace for fillies and mares, Seeuontheotherside (Tony Hall) gutted out a narrow victory despite the fact that the she never saw a pylon during the mile. Forced three-wide at the start, Seeuontheotherside stuck a nose ahead at the half but could not clear the pacesetting Capytreach (Trevor Smith). The pair raced in tandem through the final half-mile with Seeuontheotherside prevailing by three-quarters of a length in 1:52.4. Capytreach survived a three-way photo for second, with Sharp Looker (Cam McCown) getting third over Bluebird Alexis (Tyler Smith). Anette Lorentzon trains and owns the victorious Captain Crunch-Book Babe four-year-old. The winner returned $12.20.

Luke Hanners, Tyler Smith, and Jeremy Smith had driving triples during the 14-race card.

Dayton Raceway’s live action returns tomorrow afternoon with another 14 races starting at 4 p.m. Friday night will feature seven $100,000 USD divisions of the Ohio Sires Stakes Gray Championships. Saturday’s card will have the four $250,000 USD Dayton Derbies and eight $300,000 USD Ohio Sires Stakes Scarlet Championships. Post time for Friday and Saturday will be 6:30 p.m.

(Dayton Raceway)