Undertaker buried his foes again Saturday night (March 26) winning the $20,000 championship final of the George Williams Memorial Series at Miami Valley Raceway.
The wire-to-wire triumph completed a three-race sweep of the Williams Series, which was open to non–winners of four pari-mutuel races or $30,000 lifetime, for the four-year-old son of Rockin Image. Undertaker is owned by Eash Racing Stable.
Driver LeWayne Miller took no prisoners with the Don Eash-trained odds-on favourite, charging to the lead before the field hit the first turn and coasting through quarter-mile fractions of :27, :55.4 and 1:23.4 before crossing the finish line in 1:53. Brow Down (Jeremy Smith) came on strong in the final quarter to finish second with Artistic Blue (Ken Holliday) garnering third money in the lucrative final, named after one of nine ‘Lebanon Legends’ being honoured with commemorative series for the second straight season.
Fancy Creek Elusiv was the 10-1 upset winner of the $20,000 Open I weekly feature pace. The six-year-old Sportsmaster gelding was parked without cover well past the halfway point in the race, but was still able to clear to the front nearing the three-quarter station and pace home in :28.2 to secure the victory. Leading driver Josh Sutton was in the sulky for owner Todd Rosenberg and trainer Billy Farmer as Fancy Creek Elusiv recorded his 23rd career win and pushed his lifetime earnings closer to the half-million dollar plateau ($482,137). Heavily favoured Astreos Love (LeWayne Miller) rallied in the final quarter to be second with Nitro (Chris Page) banking the show dough.
Fastest mile of the night, however, belonged to E R Rudy (LeWayne Miller), who sped to a 1:50.4 score in the $15,000 Open II. The five-year-old by Arts Chip got away fourth from the rail starting spot, then moved first-up on the outside approaching the half. After moving to the lead heading to three-quarters, E R Rudy widened his margin with each stride and sped home better than four lengths the best over Big Game Hunter (Tyler Smith) and Torrington (Jeremy Smith).
The 1:50.4 clocking was just four-fifths of a second off Thisjetsabookin’s 1:50 all-age track record. With the weather improving and the track recently reconditioned, it shouldn’t be too long before Miami Valley records its first sub-1:50 mile. The 2016 meet ends of May 8 with a pair of Grand Circuit races for aged pacing and trotting mares scheduled for the season finale.
Miami Valley will present a 14-race program on Easter Sunday with a first race post time of 2:05 p.m.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)