Sweet Valorie scored her second Buckeye Stallion Series win of the season on Wednesday, July 22 as the Crawford County Fair in Bucyrus, Ohio hosted seven $28,169 divisions of the second leg for freshman filly trotters.
Through the first two legs, Sweet Valorie is the lone freshman filly trotter with multiple Stallion Series victories. She won Wednesday’s fifth division by 3-3/4 lengths in 2:04.1 with Chris Lems driving for trainer Karen Fread, who co-owns with Jan Fread of Eighty Four, Pennsylvania. The Volstead-Sweet Magnolia filly led gate to wire, with Aunt Jessie (Leroy Eicher) and Range Queen (Bryce Brocklehurst) rounding out the top three. Sweet Valorie has now hit the board in all three seasonal starts with two wins and one second. Her lifetime mark of 1:58.1 was taken in the first leg on July 14 at Eldorado Scioto Downs.
Guardian Queen, driven by Emanuel Miller, recorded the fastest mile of the second leg, winning the first division in gate-to-wire fashion in 2:00.2. The Guardian Angel As-Southwind Tesla filly posted fractions of :30, :59.4 and 1:29.3 en route to winning by 5-3/4 lengths with DD Silver Dollar (Sam Widger) and Angel L (Hank LeVan) second and third, respectively. Guardian Queen is trained by Herman Hagerman and owned by Hagerman Racing of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. She now has two wins and one third-place finish from four seasonal starts.
Indigo Times scored her first career victory, winning in 2:01 with trainer Kayne Kauffman in the sulky. Kauffman also drove the maiden-breaking Lady Martinique to a 2:03 score for trainer Peter Foley.
Other first-time winners included Dublins Tessa in 2:04.3 for driver Clifton Bell and trainer Chris Beaver, and Rollin Range in 2:04.1 with Ronnie Gillespie aboard for the Deborah Swartz stable.
Wishinghallofchina took a new mark of 2:01.2 with Sam Widger driving for trainer Randy Rank. She previously won an Ohio Fair Stakes division in Ottawa, Ohio.
The Buckeye Stallion Series continues on Thursday, July 23 with the second leg for freshman colt trotters and the first leg for freshman filly pacers at Scioto Downs.
Hank LeVan was the top driver and trainer on the 15-race card with four winners in each capacity, including an Ohio Fair Stakes three-year-old male pacing winner Fired Up Henry L, who posted the fastest mile of the day in 1:56 in a 7-3/4-length romp.
(With files from Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association)