With Miami Valley Raceway still in its first week of live racing it is not surprising that a pair of track records were established Wednesday night. It is surprising, however, how impressive the clockings were in light of temperatures that had dipped to about 12 degrees (near zero with the wind chill factor) when the races went to post.
Rehab Mountain clocked the fastest trotting mile in the young history of the five-eighths mile oval by winning the $9,500 Open Handicap in 1:57.1 to best Baby Blaze (driven by Chris Page) and Boy Meets Girl K (Tony Hall) by just over four lengths. Brad Hanners trains and drove the Duke Of York gelding to his 19th career triumph in 71 starts, increasing his bankroll to over $166,000. The late-blooming trotter won 10 times in 2013 and is now one-for-three in 2014 for the B6 Racing Stable.
The standard for pacing mares was lowered to 1:54.4 when Arties Last Party (Kayne Kauffman) bested Bazooka Terror (Dan Noble) and Eve Marie Seelster (Kyle Ater) in a $7,000 conditioned event. Owned by Steven Herrick, the five-year-old Artiscape mare won for the tenth time in her life.
Holiday Shopper tripped the timer in 1:55 in an $8,000 Open mares’ event. The father-son trainer-driver team of Jeff and Jason Brewer had the seven-year-old Camluck mare in prime shape for her initial 2014 voyage in which she bested Julie Lou (Tyler Smith) and Dazzling Diana (Dan Noble). It was the 20th career tally for the winner who is owned by Drs. Robert and Randall Van Hutchison.
Brad Hanners, Tony Hall and Tyler Smith all scored driving doubles on the 11-race program.
Racing resumes tonight (Thursday, Feb. 13) with the normal 6:30 p.m. first-race post time.
(With files from Miami Valley)