A pair of horses leaving from Post 9 snagged the Saturday (Jan. 25) features at Miami Valley Raceway.
Windsong Leo, driven by Chris Page, ran his win streak to five when capturing the $25,000 Open Pace in 1:52 over a "sloppy" track. The eight-year-old son of Jeremes Jet has won three straight at the top level at The Meadows and now two straight at Miami Valley following a third-place finish in the Preferred at The Meadowlands to end 2019.
Page rushed his odds-on favourite, trained by Ron Burke, off the gate and controlled all through fractions of :27.1, :56 and 1:23.3 before hitting the finish in front. Windsong Leo, a 53-time winner in 117 starts, towed Gerardo, My Hero Ron, Shagnwiththedragon and General Dolan across the wire.
Pet Shark copped the $32,500 championship final of the Claim To Fame Series for pacing males with a $20,000 claiming tag. Launching from his outside post, driver Sam Widger and Pet Shark pestered favoured Ponderingjacksfame through fractions of :27.4, :55.4 and 1:24.1. Despite going at odds of 17-1 and never seeing a pylon in the race, the winning seven-year-old Shadyshark Hanover gelding mustered a gutsy :29.2 final panel to hold off the late charges of Ram N Desire and Cool Like That.
Owners Ryan Bellamy and Chris Bulak claimed Pet Shark for $26,000 a week ago in the final preliminary leg of the series and got $16,250 of that investment back in the final. The winner now sports 19 wins in his 114 starts.
Racing resumes Sunday afternoon (Jan. 26) at 2:05 p.m. at Miami Valley when the feature will be the $37,500 championship final of the Claim To Fame Series for pacing males with a claiming tag of $30,000.
(Miami Valley Raceway)