Mike Hitchcock recorded his 2,000th career training victory as Beckoning Yankee crossed the line first in the 11th race at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Thursday, May 14.
Beckoning Yankee, a four-year-old daughter of Tall Dark Stranger-A Beach Cowgirl, circled from the pocket to the lead past the quarter, fended off a first-over attack through the middle half, and finished sharply to win in 1:52.3 with Chris Page at the lines for owners William Hartt and H&H Stable. She paid $2.80 to win.
Hitchcock got his first training victory in September 1998 at the Farmington Fair with Common Man, a son of Troublemaker-Miss Ore who was 11 years old at the time. Now, the Mainer, who has been based in Ohio since 2020, has 9,862 lifetime starts and $12.3 million in earnings.
When asked who his favourite horses are, Hitchcock has a couple, but the one that stands out is Let It Ride N, a 13-year-old gelded son of Rock N Roll Heaven-Love A Gamble who has earned $1.29 million so far in his career.
“Better Is Nice is a nice, nice horse, but Let It Ride, he’s been with us for…years,” said Hitchcock. “He’s a really good horse – getting older, but just a nice old classy horse.
“I’ve had so many pretty decent horses, but Let It Ride, he’s just an old campaigner, he just tries all the time. Grantmeawish, he’s been a good old horse. It’s hard to choose just one.”
While younger horses are not his bread and butter, Hitchock has dipped his toe in the water and come out with a monster in Crocodile Station. The Downbytheseaside-Camera Lady gelding took a mark of 1:52 as a two-year-old at the Delaware County Fair last year and lowered it to 1:50.2 this season at Miami Valley Raceway. He has earned $306,357 with six wins in 13 starts.
“I like the racehorses better than the babies, but we started doing babies a couple years ago," said Hitchcock. "Crocodile Station, he’s probably going to be one of them, a three-year-old that I’m looking forward to racing this year a lot. We have high expectations for him, but we’ll see what happens, it’s a long year.”
Helping Hitchcock get through the long year is Daniel Holmes, who has been working with him for 10 years, also making the move from Maine.
“When I raced in Maine, my brother (Chris) was with me, it was a brother stable," Hitchock said. "And then when I moved out here, he had to stay home because he had a family. When I moved out here it was more of a race-in-the-winter-time (thing), and then things took off. My owner, William Hartt, he’s like 'why don’t you stay out there and we’ll get you a stable going?'”
Hartt did more than put a stable together — they bought a 50-acre farm in 2023 that now houses 40 horses. Between building barns, the half-mile track, setting up the pasture and now building a house, on top of training and racing horses, Hitchcock stays busy.
“Having a farm is a full-time time job, there’s never enough time in the day,” he said.
But he’s found time to take on a couple of other projects – he has overseen the production and sales of the Spyder bike for three years and LZR Wheels for two.
“Before I trained horses, I was in retail, I love retail," Hitchcock said. "With the bikes and wheels, I like interacting with everybody that’s in the industry, and then I try to do what I can to help. I try to raise money for people, when people are out of work for quite some time, I try to raise a little money to help them get through their time…try to pay it forward.”
Hitchcock hopes to add more wins this weekend as he sends seven more horses to the gate, including three of his favourites on Saturday. Better Is Nice will race in the opener with Trevor Smith listed and is the 2-1 morning-line favourite. Brett Miller will drive Let It Ride N in the Open II Pace and Grantmeawish in the Open Handicap Pace.
Racing at Scioto Downs continues on Friday and Saturday with 15 races on each card. The 91-day 2026 Scioto Downs regular season runs through Saturday, Sept. 19. Races are held Tuesday-Saturday, with special holiday cards on Memorial Day and Labor Day instead of the Tuesday card that week. The track will then re-open for the Breeders Crown, with eliminations held Oct. 16-17 and the finals on Oct. 23-24.
(Scioto Downs)