My Buddy Ninkster scored his 11th 2016 victory on Saturday night (December 3), copping the $15,000 Open I Pace at Hollywood Dayton Raceway in 1:51.1.
With the sharp triumph, the winner eclipsed the $100,000 earnings plateau for the season and the four-year-old son of Dali is rapidly closing in on $200,000 for his career.
Driver Tyler Smith hustled My Buddy Ninkster from the gate forcing JDs Macca Lodge (Kayne Kauffman) to pace a taxing :26.2 opening quarter to clear to the pylons in front of him. Although Tyd Theglyde (Dan Noble) tried to attack first-up on the outside, the pacesetting pair stayed in one-two order along the pylons until the head of the stretch. At that point, Smith pulled My Buddy Ninkster from the pocket and wore down JDs Macca Lodge, eventually pulling away to an open-lengths victory.
Off at 7-2 odds, My Buddy Ninkster topped JDs Macca Lodge, who held for second at 9-2 odds, while Vague Traces (Andy Shetler) closed sharply at 5-1 to pick up the show dough.
John and Mary Krasnican own My Buddy Ninkster and have entrusted the conditioning to Bob Phillips.
For the second consecutive week, the $12,500 Open II Pace produced an even quicker mile over the lightning-fast Dayton five-eighths mile oval. This time it was E R Rudy (Peter Wrenn) overcoming the outside number nine post position to triumph in 1:50.1, a new lifetime mark for the five-year-old altered son of Arts Chip. E R Rudy also won for the 11th time this year and joined My Buddy Ninkster in surpassing the $100,000 seasonal earnings mark with the victory. The pair of six-figure stalwarts will likely square off against each other in next Saturday’s feature.
Wrenn was content to ease E R Rudy from the gate, trailing the entire field when they reached the first stanza teletimer in :27. Shortly thereafter, though, the pair began an aggressive attack, which put them in second-over position at the halfway point. With favoured Hawks Red Chief beginning to labour on the front end, E R Rudy was pulled three-wide down the backside and exploded with a sub-:27 third quarter, which propelled him to an open-lengths lead going into the final bend. Tacking on an impressive :27 flat final quarter, E R Rudy dominated Granite (Jason Brewer), who was gaining quickly in the final strides, and Castle Flight (Dan Noble), who found racing room late to complete the trifecta.
Off at 11-1, E R Rudy returned $24.40 to his faithful. Combined with Granite (7-1) the exacta returned $204.20.
Don Eash trains the winner for Eash Racing Stable Inc.
(With files from Dayton)