In her 27th lifetime start, Sweet Heaven notched her 10th victory and first in featured Open class company on Friday night (October 9) at Hollywood Dayton Raceway.
The four-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou, dispatched as the 3-5 favourite following place and show finishes in her first two efforts at this level, bested Allbeastnobeauty (Josh Sutton) and Talkaboutaqueen (Jeremy Smith) in 1:51 with Brett Miller aboard.
Miller, the leading driver at the current Hollywood Dayton meet, had inside post position advantage at the start, but allowed Up Front Flor Ida (Chris Page) and Allbeastnobeauty to speed ahead through a :26.3 opening panel. At that point, he executed the popular give-and-go to reassume command early in the stretch the first time on the quick five-eighths mile oval. Posting sensible middle fractions of :55 and 1:22.3, Sweet Heaven had no concerns until the runner-up came calling late in the stretch before falling a length short.
Brian Brown trains the winner, who increased her career earnings to $111,971 garnering half of the $14,000 purse. She is owned by the partnership of Hutchison Harness, Joe Sbrocco, Mark Kantrowitz and Country Club Acres.
(With files from Dayton)