Our Dragon King (Josh Sutton) lowered his own one-week-old, all-age track record on Saturday (April 23) at Miami Valley Raceway, speeding to a 1:49.3 triumph.
Sutton, celebrating his 34th birthday, settled the track record holder in third through a quick :26.1 opening panel, then moved the six-year-old son of Dragon Again to the front prior to the :54.1 halfway station. The even-money favourite tacked on a back half in :55.2 to complete the fastest mile ever at Miami Valley. A pair of other recent Open class winners, Fancy Creek Elusiv (Chris Page) and Astreos Love (Peter Wrenn), gave chase, but ended up almost two lengths behind at the wire.
With the record-setting win in the $20,000 Craig Colston Memorial Open I Pace, Our Dragon King now has six victories in 13 2016 tries. The half-million dollar winner, owned by Majs NY Inc., has a lifetime record of 1:49.1 taken at Balmoral Park as a four-year-old.
Ohio-sired three-year-old colts and geldings went postward in a pair of $10,000 eliminations for the $35,000 James K. Hackett Memorial Pace to be staged next Saturday (April 30).
The first split was captured by Winna Winna (Kayne Kauffman) in 1:53.3, upsetting other championship qualifiers Crosswinds Dodger (Chris Page), World Of Gaming (Dan Noble) and Myells Rockstar (Jeremy Smith). The altered son of Feelin Friskie, trained by Bill Dailey, returned $25.60 for a $2 win ticket.
The Kauffman-Dailey combination prevailed in the second division as well, when Gotmoneyinmypocket came within two-fifths of a second of the divisional track record with a 1:52.2 triumph. Also a son of Feelin Friskie, Gotmoneyinmypocket topped Whataboy (Chris Page), Friskie Cruiser (Ryan Stahl), Au Naturel (Josh Sutton) and Docdor Friskie (Peter Wrenn), who qualified for the final as the fastest fifth-place finisher (clocked in 1:53.2).
(Miami Valley Raceway)