The 2015 Ohio Sires Stakes kicked off on a warm 71 degree night at Miami Valley Raceway on Friday (May 1) with three $40,000 divisions for three-year-old trotting fillies and two $40,000 divisions for three-year-old pacing fillies.
Little Casino (Hugh Beatty Jr.) got things off to a rousing start with a divisional track record 1:58.3 win in the first trotting split. As the betting favourite, Beatty was content to sit fifth in the early going before joining the outer flow just before the half then swinging three-wide at the three-quarter pole and finishing with the best late kick to top Mid Pack (Dan Noble) and Countthechip (Ken Holliday). The winning daughter of Full Count broke her maiden in her only other start this season, but looks poised to make some noise in the division in her sophomore campaign. Owner Duane Lowe conditioned Little Casino, who went winless in a dozen starts as a two-year-old but earned $17,221 at Ohio county fairs. She more than doubled her lifetime earnings with the $20,000 win cheque.
The second of the three splits for square-gaiters went to another daughter of Full Count. Student Of Life (Kurt Sugg), third choice with the betting public, went gate-to-wire in 1:59.1 to beat Bettys Sam (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and Uf Cashnmychips (Aaron Merriman). A winner of $65,106 at age two, this Marty Wollam-trainee was making her first start of the year off two qualifiers. She is owned by Acadia Farms and G & B Racing.
Little Casino’s track record was short-lived as Dark Roast (Kurt Sugg) lowered the standard to 1:58 flat in the third and final split for distaff trotters. The victory solidified a clean sweep of the first leg of the filly trot for Full Count, as Dark Roast is also one of the sire's daughters. She, too, is trained by Marty Wollam and owned by Acadia Farms and G & B Racing. Also entering off a pair of tune-up qualifiers, the $49,043 earner topped Like Old Times (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and Honey B (Kyle Ater) in the record mile.
Bell Flower (Chris Page), after three mediocre qualifiers, returned to her familiar form of 2014, flashing early front-end speed and playing catch-me-if-you-can — which no one could — through a 1:53.1 clocking in the first split for pacing fillies. A winner of seven out of eight starts and $164,336 at age two, the daughter of Fly Fly Buckeye was purchased during the off season by Bruce Soulsby, Dean Davis and Carl Howard and entrusted to trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. Favoured Friskie Lil Devil (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), the impressive winner of the James K. Hackett Memorial a week ago, sat the pocket throughout but could not close on Bell Flower in a quick :27.4 closing panel. Feeling Wild (Dan Noble) was best of the rest.
Friskie Megan gave driver Hugh Beatty Jr. his second Sires Stakes victory of the night in the second pacing division, but made mutuel backers even happier with the highest win ticket return in Miami Valley’s two-year history. Friskie Megan swung four-wide at the head of the stretch and just nipped E Ticket Ride (Dan Noble) and Karlee Sue (Jason Brewer) in the final strides of a 1:55.3 mile. Trainer Steve Bateson co-owns the Feelin Friskie filly with partner Harold Moore. Campaigned strictly at the fairs in 2014, she made her commercial track debut a whopping success, returning $212.40 for a $2 win ticket.
The $19,650 Fillies and Mares Open Pace also produced an upset when 12-1 Betit To Getit (Jason Brewer) triumphed over Skippin By (Josh Sutton) -- the 2014 Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final champion who was making her four-year-old debut -- and All Terror (Kayne Kauffman) in 1:52.2, just one-fifth of a second off the track mark for older mares. The five-year-old Ontario-bred daughter of No Pan Intended is trained by Jeff Brewer and owned by Holland Racing Stable of Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont.
Josh Sutton was presented with the Leading Driver award for an outstanding meet at Miami Valley in 2015 by Racing Operations Manager Helen Carlo and Race Secretary Gregg Keidel. Through the first 87 nights of the 89 program meet, Sutton steered 175 winners, fifth most of any driver in North America, for purse earnings of just under $1 million.
Virgil Morgan Jr. garnered his second straight Miami Valley training title in 2015. To date this year, Morgan has won 66 races at Miami Valley and sports an outstanding winning percentage of 30 per cent.
The season at Miami Valley concludes with programs on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Highlighting the Saturday card, which will begin at 7 p.m. due to the 6:35 Kentucky Derby post time, will be two divisions each of Ohio Sires Stakes action for sophomore colts and a $17,050 Open Pace. The Grand Circuit comes to town on Sunday with older pacing mares competing in the $75,000 Chip Noble Memorial, and older trotters going postward in the $86,500 Miami Valley Distaff.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)