McSeaside, the defending Ohio Sires Stakes champion following a freshman season when she banked $299,901, passed her first major test in her sophomore season winning the $50,000 James K. Hackett Memorial for three-year-old pacing fillies at Miami Valley Raceway on Tuesday (April 25).
Driver Chris Page elected not to press forward off the gate, deciding instead to take a seat along the pylons in seventh during the early going. After a :27.4 first quarter and nearing a :56.2 half, McSeaside moved to the outer flow in fourth-over position. Moving up steadily, including a three-wide move at the 1:24 three-quarters station, Page found a clear path in the middle of the lane and paced strongly to the wire in 1:51.4. Cruise Alert held for second and a hard-charging Kassagi was the show finisher.
McSeaside, dispatched at 6-5 odds, is owned by Burke Racing in partnership with the Beasty, J&T Silva and Knox Services Stables. The Ron Burke Brigade has now swept the first two of four $50,000 Hackett Memorial finals being staged this week.
In addition to McSeaside’s impressive win in the filly pace, Rose Run Yanae captured the filly trot division a day earlier. Burke will attempt to complete a Hackett Grand Slam when he sends John Dutton into the trotting colts fray on Wednesday and a powerful quartet of finalists into the $50,000 test for pacing colts on Thursday.
Post time on both Wednesday and Thursday is 4 p.m. (EDT) as Miami Valley completes the penultimate week of the 2023 live racing season.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)