Four divisions of the Buckeye Stallion Series (BSS) for three-year-old filly pacers were held on Friday, June 21 at Eldorado Scioto Downs. Fearless Ginger was the only repeat winner in this second leg while three other winners found the winner’s circle for the first time in BSS action.
Austin Hanners guided Fearless Ginger (pictured above) to an easy 3-1/2-length victory in the second $27,397 division of the Buckeye Stallion Series in 1:51.2. Leaving straight for the front from post two, the pair led at every call in :26.2, :55.2 and 1:23.1 before coasting home in :28.1. Hot Shave (Aaron Merriman) finished second with Frontier Dragon (Kayne Kauffman) getting up for third.
Fearless Ginger won the first leg of the BSS on May 1 and then posted consecutive victories in the Falcon Almahurst Series for BSS eligible horses. She now has four wins in eight starts and $57,700 earned on the year. Friday’s winning time was a new lifetime mark for the Fear The Dragon filly owned and trained by Tim Lane.
Heartofthesea also took her BSS division in 1:51.2. After sitting third through splits of :26.1 and :54.3 while Calypso Pearl (Dan Noble) led the way, Chris Page pulled Heartofthesea second-over heading to the 1:22.1 three-quarters. Following the 6-5 favourite, Illegal (Tyler Smith), Page flipped Heatofthesea three-wide in the last turn and drew off to win by four lengths over Calypso Pearl, who finished second, and Illegal, who was third.
Heartofthesea, by Downbytheseaside, is owned by Country Club Acres, Wingfield Brothers and David Van Dusen. Brian Brown trains the filly, who is now two-for-six this year and more than doubled her seasonal earnings to $26,987 while crushing her previous lifetime mark by two seconds.
The other two divisions were won by Miss Betty (Austin Hanners) and Gone Coastal (Dan Noble), both in 1:52.1.
Miss Betty, by Dancin Yankee, is owned by Harold Ward, trained by his son David Ward and was bred by Dustin Arledge. She is now two-for-nine this year after breaking her maiden on June 12 in 1:54, with $32,301 in seasonal earnings. Miss Betty was a $8,000 purchase from the Buckeye Classic Yearling Sale. Sarah Said (Eric Goodell) was second and Gulf Moon (Aaron Merriman) third.
Gone Coastal, another Downbytheseaside filly, is owned by breeder Tim Betts and trained by his brother Scott Betts. She has hit the board in all eight of her starts, winning five of them and earning $48,946 seasonally, and lifetime, as Gone Coastal did not race at two. Im A Beach Lady (Luke Hanners) was second and Im Fancy Like (Aaron Merriman) got up for third.
Refined and Hungry Lizzo win Opens
Refined, fresh off her trip to Canada for the Armbro Flight, came back down to Scioto in form to win the $25,616 Open Trot in 1:51.4.
Sitting fourth while Joey (Chris Page) set opening fractions of :26.4 and :55.4, Dan Noble pulled Refined second-over after Caviar Gold (Aaron Merriman) going down the backside. By the 1:23.1 three-quarters, Refined was first-over as Caviar Gold found the pocket spot. Refined came home in :28.1 to win by two lengths over Forceful Power (Sandy Beatty), who had also made the trip north, with Caviar Gold finishing third.
Refined, an eight-year-old mare by Uncle Peter, is owned by Joyce McClelland and Larry Wills. Friday’s win was her 40th lifetime and pushed her lifetime earnings to $1.12 million.
Hungry Lizzo, assigned post nine, got away last and came home flying to win by a half length in 1:50.3 in the $36,986 Fillies & Mares Open Pace.
Aaron Merriman took Alexa Skye off the car from post eight and was parked three-wide going to the opening quarter in :26.1. Trick Of The Light (Dan Noble) came first-over by the :54.4 half with Hungry Lizzo sitting third-over. After the leader tripped the beam in 1:22.2 at the three-quarters, Trevor Smith tipped Hungry Lizzo four-wide throughout the last turn and used the momentum to win over Trick of The Light. High Flyin Filly (Chris Page) was third.
Hungry Lizzo is trained by Deborah Swartz and owned by Bradley Delaney. The four-year-old mare by Stay Hungry now has 14 career wins -- including 10 this year -- and $238,428 in earnings lifetime.
(With files from Scioto Downs)