Rockin Ron invaded Miami Valley Raceway Saturday night (April 9) and ran his win streak to eight with an impressive 1:52 victory in the $20,000 Open I Pace.
Driver Chris Page sent the prohibitive favourite, who won six consecutive races at The Meadows this year and another at Hoosier Park at the end of 2015, directly to the front from an assigned outside post position. Although eventual runner-up Fancy Creek Elusiv (Josh Sutton) forced the four-year-old Real Desire gelding to scoot to the quarter-mile marker in :26.4, Rockin Ron was able to post a pedestrian second quarter (reaching the half in :56) before coasting through an identical :56 back half. Fancy Creek Elusive did make it interesting in the final strides, falling just a half-length short. Tyber Tyke (Peter Wrenn) raced well to finish third. Rockin Ron is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi and the RTC Stable.
A $15,000 Open II Pace was captured by Sports Sinner (Dan Noble) by a head over Can He Go (Peter Wrenn) with E R Oliver (Randy Tharps) grabbing the show dough. The 1:53.1 tally was Sports Sinner’s 19th in 85 career starts and ran the five-year-old son of Western Ideal’s bankroll to over $130,000 for owner/trainer Steve Perkins.
Final preliminary heats in the Tom Tharps Memorial Series were also contested with K Ryan Bluechip and Freedomformysoul victorious in the two divisions.
K Ryan Bluechip (Josh Sutton) topped Arti Gras (Kyle Ater) and Prince Bayard (Jason Brewer) in 1:53.2. It was the second straight series score for the four-year-old Art Major gelding trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. He now has seven lifetime wins in 20 starts, and earnings approaching $100,000, for owners Carl Howard, Bruce and Trish Soulsby, and Alan Weisenberg.
Freedomformysoul (Dan Noble) scored in 1:52.1 by just a head over Undertaker (Peter Wrenn), with Truly Kissed (Kyle Ater) not far behind in third. The triumph was the sixth by the four-year-old altered son of If I Can Dream and did push his total racing bounty over the $100,000 plateau. Freedomformysoul is owned by Rocco Ruffolo and trained by Jim Ellison.
The claim box remains active at Miami Valley as another six Saturday night claimers were collared for $78,000. A total of 227 horses have been claimed during the first 65 nights of the current meet for a total of $2,337,325 -- another indication of just how vibrant the Ohio racing program has become in the three years since racino legislation was implemented in the Buckeye State.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)