A month-long trend of Indiana invaders copping the feature races at Hollywood Dayton Raceway continued Saturday night when Vague Traces captured the $15,000 Open I Pace and JDs Macca Lodge was victorious in the $12,500 Open II.
Both winners toiled at Hoosier Park until their meet closed two weeks ago.
Vague Traces and Andy Shetler worked out a pocket ride behind Hawks Red Chief (Chris Page) in the main event, finding clearance a third of the way down the stretch to collar Secret Threat (Kayne Kauffman) in the final strides of the 1:51.3 mile. Ourea Nourrir (Josh Sutton) also closed with vigour to garner the show dough, while Hawks Red Chief held for fourth.
Dispatched at 5-2 odds in the evenly matched full field, Vague Traces won for just the fourth time in 28 seasonal starts and increased his seasonal bankroll to $60,000. His career bounty is now almost $230,000. The four-year-old son of Always A Virgin is owned by Phil Wiley and trained by Lavern Hostetler.
The Open II actually went quicker (1:50.4) as JDs Macca Lodge successfully stepped into open company for the first time and wired a talented secondary group for Kayne Kauffman.
JDs Macca Lodge beat $20,000 claimers and then $35,000 claimers in his last two outings at Hoosier Park earlier in the month and was sent off as the 8-5 betting favourite off those dominant performances. Tyd The Glyde (Peter Wrenn) was a close second place finisher, with Lucky Crusader (Sutton) completing the Trifecta ticket.
Walter Haynes, Jr. conditions the four-year-old son of Panspacificflight, who has earned over $56,000 this year and $127,000 lifetime, for owners John McGill and Brian Carsey.
Driver Josh Sutton guided six winners for the second consecutive night. The nation’s ninth winningest 2016 driver scored with Dark Horse, Mach My Point, Smiling Terror, Nothing Fancy, One Lucky Dragon and Woo Shark.
(Hollywood Dayton Raceway)