Lord Of Misrule picked a great time to pick up his first victory of the season by capturing the $20,000 championship final of the Tom Tharps Memorial Series for conditioned pacers at Miami Valley Raceway.

As a lukewarm favourite, Lord Of Misrule left alertly from an outside post until driver Chris Page decided to take a tuck into fifth position along the pylons during the :26.3 opening panel. Nearing the half, Page moved into second-over position behind Hotunderthecollar (Dan Noble) who was pressuring front-stepping Crusoe Hanover (Randy Tharps) to the :55.4 halfway station.

Hotunderthecollar, the eventual runner-up, managed to get a head in front by the 1:23.4 three-quarter split, but could not hold off Lord Of Misrule in the stretch as the four-year-old winning son of Mcardle stopped the clock in 1:52.4 for a triumph slightly over a length. PQ Three (Jeremy Smith) was next best with OK Ferrari (Greg Grismore) and Crusoe Hanover garnering the fourth and fifth place cheques.

Trainer Ron Burke owns Lord Of Misrule with partners Weaver Bruscemi LLC, JT45 Stable and Lindy Farms. It was just his sixth career victory and pushed his life earnings to $105,730.

A race later Special Forces (Dan Noble) joined a long list of Open Pace winners at this meet by topping Astreos Love (Brad Hanners) and Lucky Lime (Kyle Ater) in the $17,050 weekly feature.

The 1:51.3 clocking was a seasonal best in ten tries for the six-year-old son of Real Desire and was his 21st trip to a winner’s circle in 65 career tries. Brian Brown trains Special Forces for the partnership of Country Club Acres, William Robinson and Mike Mallett.

Racing resumes Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Miami Valley when the last of nine ‘Lebanon Legends’ memorial races will be presented, this one the Dr. Dan Farwick Memorial for trotters carrying a purse of $18,500. A $17,050 Open Trot is co-featured on the matinee program.

(Miami Valley Raceway)