Touchmymuscles pulled a mild upset in Saturday night’s $11,500 Open Trot at Hollywood Dayton Raceway.
Driver Dan Noble sat chilly with the four-year-old gelding while Baby Blaze set speedy early fractions of :27.2, :56.2 and 1:25, then he swept four-wide around the final bend and through the stretch to leave the field in his wake, stopping the timer in 1:55. Off at 5-1 odds, the final two combatants Touchmymuscles collared were 25-1 runner-up Mr Web Page (Josh Sutton) and favoured show finisher Rehab Mountain (Brad Hanners), who were also wide through the final turn and stretch.
Sam Coven trains the winner for Therl Hensley. The 1:55 clocking equalled his lifetime-best and marked his fifth trip to the winner’s circle in 2014.
Two races later Torrington captured his second straight $12,000 Open Pace and third in four weeks for driver Kayne Kauffman and trainer Mike Evans.
The lukewarm favourite worked hard to secure the lead just past the :27.1 opening panel, then caught a :29 breather to the :56.1 half. With pressure from that point on, Torrington sprinted through a third panel in :27.4 and a final quarter in :28.4 to hold off Rockin Finish (Randy Tharps) and Andy Roo (Josh Sutton) in 1:52.4.
James Hefner, Mark Nolan and Nick Katterhenry own the six-year-old son of Art Major, who now has 27 career wins and is approaching $150,000 in lifetime bounty.
(Dayton Raceway)