Real Rockin Ravi vaulted off cover to a 1:54.4 win in Sunday's (Feb. 21) $20,000 final of the George 'Red' Owens Memorial Series at Miami Valley Raceway.
Real Rockin Ravi had outside post positions in the two preliminary legs of the series and eked out very narrow victories in both. With a better post draw for the final, driver Dan Noble elected to race mid-pack early in the mile before confidently angling the four-year-old daughter of Pet Rock off the pylons to follow cover as the field neared the halfway juncture. Content with the flow, Noble followed along until halfway around the final bend before swinging three-wide into the stretch and powerfully passing her remaining foes.
Better Days Ahead (Mitchell Cushing) made a quarter move to the front of the field and tried valiantly to hold on, but ultimately had to settle for a runner-up finish. Twin Power (Chris Page) recovered from an early misstep to garner third.
Real Rockin Ravi hadn’t seen much of commercial tracks until recently, as she was a rock star on the Ohio county fair circuit in her two- and three-year-old seasons, earning just over $70,000 by way of eight wins and five second-place finishes.
Trainer Bret Schwartz co-owns Real Rockin Ravi with partners Mitchell Bean, Alexis Schwartz and Dylan Fagan. Their plan is to move on to the Herb Coven Jr. Memorial Series at Miami Valley, which is a step up from non-winners of two pari-mutuel races to non-winners of four.
Miami Valley will present 2:05 p.m. matinee programs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb. 22-24) of the coming week.
(Miami Valley Raceway)