Favourites did not disappoint at Miami Valley Gaming & Racing on a balmy Friday night in a quartet of $50,000 Ohio Sires Stakes for three-year-old pacing and trotting fillies.
Trainer Chris Beaver scored a pair of home runs as two of his trainees captured both ends of the trotting contests in leg one action of Ohio Sires Stakes, with multiple stablemates picking up second and third place cheques.
Favourite Aunt Rose, in rein to Ronnie Wrenn, Jr., equalled the track record with a 1:54 triumph for owners Chris Beaver, Mike Carter, Joe Sbrocco and Steven Zeehandelar in the second trotting division. The Uncle Peter lass upped her career earnings to $88,588 with the victory, the first of the season for the Spring Haven Farm and Doug Millard-bred filly. She now has three wins, one second and two thirds in 11 lifetime trips postward.
Aunt Rose used come-from-behind tactics for the win, with a :28.2 final brush to prevail by 1-1/2 lengths. Beaver conditioned the first three finishers of this event, with 11-1 Pure Chance (Jason Thompson) second and 5-1 Weslynn Quest (Brett Miller) third.
In the first trotting division Beaver harnessed 5-2 Bellas Rose Power (Kayne Kauffman) to a wire-to-wire victory in 1:54.4, staving off a late challenge by 7-1 stablemate Stone In Love (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.).
The win was the daughter of Triumphant Caviar’s second of the season in four starts and upped her seasonal earnings to $47,000 and her career earnings to $127,135. Favourite (3-5) Only Take Cash was third for Aaron Merriman.
Bellas Rose Power now has four wins, three seconds and two thirds in 13 career starts for Beaver, Jim Gallagher, Marion Beachy and Steven Zeehandelar.
The OSS pacing divisions also saw favourites prevail in easy fashion, with Avaline Hanover taking the first match in a new career clocking of 1:52.1 for driver Chris Page and trainer Ronnie Burke. The daughter by Dragon Again paced through middle panels of :56 and 1:25 before breezing home in :27.1 as the public’s choice, finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of 6-5 Rylee Roo (Aaron Merriman), with 7-2 High Reward (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) notching third-place honours.
Avaline Hanover, a winner of $83,490 lifetime and $70,450 this year has five wins, five seconds and a third from 12 lifetime starts for owners Burke Racing Stable, Larry Karr, Jandt Silva Purnel & Libb and Weaver Bruscemi.
Queen Of The Pride simply devastated her competition for driver Tony Hall with a 1:51.4 victory, her third of the season in four starts. The Mcardle lass—who is owned by Frank Chick and trained by Kevin Lare—left the gate and never looked back, drawing away from her five rivals in the final turn and sprinting to a 5-1/2 length win, her eighth lifetime. Rose Run Uptowngal (Chris Page) was second at 10-1, while 11-1 Carmen Ohio was third for Ryan Stahl.
Bred by Ohioan Brad Wallace, Queen Of The Pride now sports a healthy bankroll of $421,454, with $67,500 of that earned in 2019.
This year the Ohio Sires Stakes offer $300,000 Championships at Northfield Park on Sept. 1, with $75,000 Consolations to be race on Sept. 7 at Scioto Downs. As well four-year-olds and up will race for $75,000 Championships: pacers-Sept. 7 at Scioto Downs & trotters-Oct. 12 at Northfield Park.
To be eligible to the rich Ohio Sires Stakes, horses nominated to the program must be sired by a stallion registered with the Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) and standing in the state of Ohio throughout the breeding season of the year of foaling. For information on the Ohio Sires Stakes, go to www.racingohio.net.