After being limited to three starts last season, Dynamite Dylan exploded on the scene at Miami Valley Raceway this month by breaking his maiden with a 1:50.4 win in the first start of his sophomore campaign and following with a victory last week in his elimination of the James K. Hackett Memorial for Ohio-sired three-year-old male pacers.
On Thursday, the homebred colt will try to make it three-for-three in ’23 when he faces eight rivals in the $50,000 Hackett championship. Ronnie Wrenn Jr. will drive Dynamite Dylan, who starts from post two and is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line, for trainer Brian Brown and owners David Prushnok and John Prushnok.
“What I see from him I love,” said David Prushnok, adding for emphasis with a laugh, “I don’t like it, I love it.
“Those [first two] races speak for themselves. He looks like a pretty darn nice horse. We’ll just see where it goes. It looks like he might be the fastest horse I ever owned if he stays healthy and does what three-year-olds usually do.”
Dynamite Dylan, named for Prushnok’s eight-year-old grandson, caught the attention of his connections last spring when he won a qualifier in a sharp 1:55.4 on the half-mile oval at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in central Ohio, where Brown’s stable is based. He then finished second in his career debut in a conditioned race but was no better than fifth in two Ohio Sire Stakes starts that followed.
“When he was starting races, he would do some skipping and bobbing and then settle down, but we knew something wasn’t right,” said Prushnok. “We discovered he had chips in his ankle. We removed those and brought him back at three.”
Dynamite Dylan’s 1:50.4 victory in his first start this season is tied for the second-fastest mile by a three-year-old pacer on a five-eighths-mile track this year. Last week in his Hackett elimination, he scored in 1:52.1, beating Wicked Character by 1-1/4 lengths.
“He’s going faster than we want him to, but he looks great,” said Prushnok. “We’re excited.”
Dynamite Dylan is a son of Downbytheseaside-Dobre Povedane. The colt’s mom is a stakes-winning daughter of Vysoke Tatry, a Prushnok family homebred (under Andray Farm) who was a Grand Circuit winner and earned $671,805 lifetime. The family also includes Grand Circuit winners R J P, Karpathian Kid and Dragon Again — all also bred by the Prushnoks. Dragon Again was an O’Brien Award winner in 1999 and sired harness racing’s all-time richest performer, Foiled Again.
Another member of the family is Always B Nicky, who is named after Prushnok’s son. The three-year-old pacer, sired by Always B Miki out of Vysoke Tatry, raced once last year. He is in the stable of trainer Erv Miller.
“I told him he’s got to wait on 'Nicky,'” said Prushnok. “He’s coming, according to Erv.
“We raised [Dynamite Dylan and Always B Nicky] on the farm, so the boys watched them grow up. It’s been fun.”
Other breeding credits for the Prushnoks include Hall of Fame pacer McWicked, who was the 2018 Horse of the Year, and Dan Patch Award-winning pacer Boston Red Rocks. Prushnok said a McWicked-sired filly out of Dobre Povedane born last year named Tricky Wicky brought to a close the family’s breeding endeavours.
“We did pretty good over the years for a small operation,” said Prushnok, whose family also is known for owning Dan Patch Award-winning trotter Lucky Jim. “Pound-for-pound I don’t think anyone outperformed us.”
The 5-2 morning-line favourite in the Hackett championship is Act Fast, who captured the event’s other elimination by a half-length over Mossys Dragon in 1:51.2. The colt, trained by Ron Burke, will have Chris Page in the sulky and leaves from post six.
Last year, Act Fast counted the Matron Stakes among three victories. He is one of four Burke-trained horses in the Hackett championship, along with Br Kruser, The Real Way and Wicked Character.
Dynamite Dylan is one of two horses from Brown’s stable, joined by Mossys Dragon.
“We loved 'Dylan' and we’re looking forward to taking on all comers,” said Prushnok. “It’s a fun game when you have some success. Hopefully, 'Dylan' can add to that page of ours.”
Racing begins at 4 p.m. (EDT) at Miami Valley Raceway. For Thursday’s complete entries, click here.
(With files from USTA)