LeWayne Miller is a fan of the three-leg Howard Beissinger Memorial Medley Trot at Miami Valley Raceway, and has a “compelling” reason to look forward to Friday’s (Feb. 19) $25,000 final. Miller will be driving the morning-line favourite, Compelling.
Compelling and Miller will start from post 5 in the final, which will be contested at the added distance of one-and-a-quarter miles. Compelling won a first-leg division of the medley, raced at five-eighths of a mile, and finished second in a second-round split, which was raced at the standard distance of one mile.
Perfect Chapter As is the 7-2 second choice in the final. The seven-year-old gelding won a second-leg division and was third in an opening-round division. The Ron Burke trainee will start from post 6 with Chris Page in the sulky. Shake It Mary, who won both of her preliminary legs, is 5-1 from post seven. The five-year-old Sherif Cunmulaj-trained mare will be driven by Dan Noble.
Compelling, a seven-year-old mare, was an Indiana Sire Stakes champion at age four. She is owned by Verlin Yoder and has spent the majority of her career at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Lifetime, the daughter of Swan For All out of First Lady Two has won 18 of 72 starts and $270,378.
“She’s a very nice mare,” said Miller, who is training and driving Compelling while she competes at Miami Valley. “She knows where the wire is, and she likes that last quarter (of a mile).”
Compelling used her finishing kick to win her first leg in the Beissinger. She was sixth at the half-mile point, nearly eight lengths from the leader. She won by a head.
“I was a little concerned about the five-eighths because it’s such a short distance and she’s a little lazy, so sometimes it takes her a little bit longer to get in gear,” Miller said. “But she definitely closed strong. I think the pace was hot enough early that they just got a little tired late.”
Compelling’s racing style gives Miller reason to be optimistic in the Beissinger’s extra-distance final.
“I like the mile-and-a-quarter for her because her best game is at the end of the mile,” Miller said. “You approach (the race) the same way, you just have to be a little bit patient and manage when to use your horse. I think she will be all right in there.”
The medley series honours Howard Beissinger, a Hall of Fame trainer-driver and the winner of three Hambletonian Stakes. Beissinger, who died in 2018, maintained his base of operations in Hamilton, OH, less than 10 miles from Miami Valley Raceway, throughout his career.
“I love the idea of it and like the way they have it set up,” Miller said about the varied-distances event. “It’s a nice thing to have. It’s fun.”
Racing begins at 4:05 p.m. (EST) Friday (Feb. 19) at Miami Valley.
(USTA)