Ontario-bred Go For Sand (driven by Jason Brewer) and Princess Of Rock (Tyler Smith), both owned partially by William Eltzroth and both trained by Jeff Brewer, were first and second to cross the wire in the $15,000 championship leg of the Herb Cover Jr. Memorial Series at Miami Valley Raceway on Sunday (March 29) afternoon.

The stablemates were just a nose apart at the wire with Second Later (Josh Sutton) third in the photo finish by about that same narrow margin. Runner-up Princess Of Rock had to survive a judges' inquiry after breaking stride about 20 yards from the wire. The judges ruled that Smith did lose ground, did not interfere with any other horse, and was back on the pacing gait in her final few strides and thus made the race official.

Seconds Later, a lukewarm favourite over the Brewer entry, did all the work on a very windy day. Sutton was forced from an outside post to sprint to the quarter-mile marker in :27.1, then caught a breather to the :57 half. With an outer flow formed, the pace quickened dramatically down the wind-aided backstretch with Seconds Later tripping the three-quarters beam in 1:24.4. The stretch drive was a cavalry charge directly into the wind, which resulted in the 1:55.4 photo finish with Go For Sand getting the nod.

Eltzroth’s partners on the winner are wife Tamara as well as David DeFilippo. The four-year-old daughter of Santanna Blue Chip now has seven career wins.

Herb Coven Jr. was a well respected Lebanon horseman before his untimely death in the prime of his career. Miami Valley Raceway is honouring nine such ‘Legends’ this month with memorial series in their honour. The final of the Omar Hiteman Series will highlight the Wednesday night (April 1) program.

A $15,950 Open Handicap Trot was also featured on Sunday with Cantcutthatchip (Jack Dailey) topping Mr Web Page (Kayne Kauffman) and Rehab Mountain (Brad Hanners) in 1:55.2. Kathy Ratcliff and Jerry Zosel own Cantcutthatchip, who was the Ohio Sires Stakes three-year-old champion in 2014. Bill Dailey trains the son of Chip Chip Hooray, who now has a dozen lifetime wins and over $168,000 in earnings.

(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)