No Foolin April received a confident drive from Brett Miller and cruised to victory in the $38,356 Fillies and Mares Open Pace in the face of high winds over a sloppy track on Thursday, Dec. 18 at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway.
Brett Miller had No Foolin April off the gate quickly to lead early ahead of Angel Hill (Kayne Kauffman). Hey Hey Mama (Luke Hanners), who was sent out of post seven, couldn’t find an early hole and was forced to march to the front in a :26 first panel, but No Foolin April was not content to sit second and retook before the three-eighths mark.
She led through middle splits of :56.4 and 1:24.1, pressured by the first-up Beautiful Seaside (Trace Tetrick). No Fooling April pulled away down the lane and crossed the line 2-1/4 lengths ahead of Beautiful Seaside, with a closing Fearless Ginger (Chris Page) third. The winning four-year-old Nob Hill High-Princess Baby Ella mare stopped the clock in 1:52.3.
No Foolin April picked up her second straight Open win for owner/trainer/breeder Adam Short. She has won 16 of 52 career starts. The win price was $3.
Art Of Racing painted another victory onto the canvas of her current winning streak with a dominant effort in a $19,178 conditioned pace. The Racing Hill-Arts Fantasy filly swung to the lead from second past a :27.4 quarter, set down :58.1 and 1:25.2 middle-half sections, and extended her advantage to 5-1/4 lengths as she cruised to a 1:54.3 score for driver Dave Miller and owner/trainer Tessa Perrin. Romeos Juliet (Brett Miller) reached up for second over the third-place dead heat between Kountry Carrots (Sam Widger) and Dancing Dragon (Luke Hanners).
Art Of Racing secured her seventh consecutive victory and improved her career tally to eight wins in 24 starts. She paid $2.80 to win.
In another $19,178 conditioned pace, Northern Storm went from worst to first in the back half under the guidance of Tyler Smith to score a 30-1 upset. Sarasota Hanover (Luke Hanners) led the field of seven through the fractions of :26.4, :57.1 and 1:26.1, with Tie The Knot (Dave Miller) providing pressure down the backstretch. Northern Storm went three-wide around the final turn and swooped past the tiring leaders, out-sprinting Nebble Hanover (Luke Plano) and Mels Vicki Lou (Josh Sutton) in the lane to record the upset in 1:56.1. Nebble Hanover was beaten three-quarters of a length in second, and Mels Vicki Lou was third.
Northern Storm, seven-year-old Mcardle-Betit To Getit mare, won the 22nd time in 140 outings in her career. She is trained by Jason Brewer for the partnership of Kirk Nichols, Levi Bontrager and Jamie Cornett. She returned $63.40.
Veteran reinsmen Dave Miller and Trace Tetrick recorded triples on the 14-race card.
Racing at Dayton resumes on Friday with a 4 p.m. post time.
(With files from Dayton Raceway)