Control Tower, a five-year-old son of Panspacificflight, was in complete control of his trip from gate to wire on Saturday night (April 8) in the $27,500 championship leg of the Tom Tharps Memorial Series.
A runner-up in the George Williams Memorial Series final for non-winners of four races a month ago, Control Tower would not be denied in the Tharps, which was for non-winners of six races.
Rushing to command immediately after starter Mike Woebkenberger signaled ‘liftoff,’ driver (and trainer) Dan Noble reached the first quarter=mile marker with Control Tower in :27.1. He followed up with middle splits of :54.4 and 1:22.2 before scooting home in :28.2 to complete the winning 1:50.4 mile.
Evergreen Elite (Jason Brewer), who was favoured despite the eight-hole after winning impressively in both preliminary legs, also left alertly but was forced to take the pocket ride after a parked out first turn and hung on for second, five lengths off the leader. Sossys King Kong (Chris Page) managed to grab the show purse money in the lucrative championship.
Stephen Sexton owns Control Tower, who now sports 11 wins in 24 lifetime starts good for $72,781. Lightly raced at ages two and three, the late bloomer now has five wins and nine on-the-board finishes in 11 2017 starts.
A $20,000 Open I Pace was captured by My Buddy Ninkster (Josh Sutton), who topped Gerries Sport (Peter Wrenn) and Astreos Love (Randy Tharps) in 1:50.4. It was the second straight win at the top level for the five-year-old Dali gelding owned by John and Mary Krasnican and trained by Bob Phillips.
The $16,500 Open II went to Hickory Icon (Jeremy Smith), who topped Steves Legacy (Chris Page) and Account Rollover (Kayne Kauffman) in 1:50.4. Randal Smith trains the seven-year-old son of Real Desire for Jessica Smith.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)