The Miami Valley Raceway track record for older pacing mares was tied twice on Friday (April 17) and the two shared another common denominator, driver Dan Noble.
The first to equal the best-ever 1:52.1 clocking was Native Dream, a five-year-old daughter of Allamerican Native, in a $10,450 condition race. The Bill Dailey trainee, owned by Pacey Mindlin and Kenneth Cohen, bested Bettor Think Twice (Hugh Beatty Jr.) and Yankees Lady (Josh Sutton) for her 15th lifetime triumph. An outstanding three-year-old, Native Dream had a bit of a down year in 2014, but looks to have regained her best form with two straight convincing wins at Miami Valley.
Two races later, Ontario-bred Kathys Kitchen (also driven by Noble), copped a $12,100 race mixing top condition mares and $15,000 claimers, also equalling the track record of 1:52.1 for older mares. The five-year-old mare by Whosurboy has put together an impressive string of seven straight starts at Miami Valley with four wins, three place and one show finishes while working her way through the claiming ranks. Kathys Kitchen’s four victories came progressively carrying tags of $8,000, $10,000 and $12,000 before the latest win with a $15,000 base tag. Thunder Flight (Ken Holliday) and A Sham Of Amber (Randy Tharps) got the place and show dough in her latest conquest. Owners Andrew and Christina Coblentz have banked $26,391 during the seven-race streak under the tutelage of trainer John G. Wengerd.
Beat The Beat (Kyle Ater) scored an upset in the $17,050 Mares Open Pace, beating All Terror (Kayne Kauffman) and Ivory Collection (Jeremy Smith) in 1:53. In the ongoing Miami Valley version of musical chairs in the Friday night feature race, the five-year-old daughter of Art Major became the 11th different mare to cop a distaff Open in the first 15 weeks of the current meet. Dan Ater trains Beat The Beat for owners Kirk Nichols and William Green.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)