Driver Chris Page equalled the Miami Valley Raceway record for victories on a single card on Friday night (April 15) by winning seven of the first 11 races on the 14-dash program.
The 32-year-old Mt. Vernon, Ohio native now shares the mark with Josh Sutton, who managed the same feat on Saturday night, April 2, less than two weeks ago.
Page guided odds-on favourite Safe From Terror to a 1:52.2 score over American Girl (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and Addys Way (Dan Noble) in the $20,000 Mares Open Pace, her fourth win in seven tries against the best distaffers at the meet. The four-year-old Western Terror daughter is being pointed towards the $100,000 (est.) Chip Noble Memorial Grand Circuit race scheduled for closing day, May 8, at Miami Valley. The 17-time winner, owned by Winchester Baye Acres and trained by Jim Arledge Jr., now boasts lifetime earnings of $541,262.
Page’s other triumphs came behind Made Of Jewels AS (1:54.4, $3.80), Duel Of Truth (1:54.1, $2.80), Ginger Spice N (1:52.4, $13.00), Edita Hanover (1:54.4, $38.20), Canttakeitwithyou (1:54.1, $21.40) and Miss Princess Leah (1:54.3, $4.00).
When asked if he was having fun near the end of the night, Page smiled and quietly said, “Oh yeah!” A fellow driver nearby was overheard chuckling, “Oh yeah, he’s a real ladies man!” -- a good-natured reference to the fact that six of Page’s seven triumphs were with female pacers on his record-equalling night.
The championship leg of the Dr. Don Mossbarger Memorial Series was also contested with Ginger Tree Alexis (Sutton) winning the $25,000 race in dominating fashion over Townlinedaliscard (Kayne Kauffman) and Swinging Cami (Jeremy Smith). Owner Howard Taylor sent the four-year-old Dragon Again mare to trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. specifically for this series, which was limited to distaffers who had won less than six pari-mutuel races or $50,000 lifetime as of the series’ start.
(Miami Valley Raceway)