There were plenty of fireworks among the two-year-old colt pacers who competed in eight $40,000 Ohio Sires Stakes divisions on the July 4 Scioto Downs program.
The Ohio Sires Stakes (OSS) is a four-leg series contested at three of the Buckeye State’s four harness ovals with a $250,000 Championship set for Sept. 2 at Scioto Downs.
In the first OSS contest Letsallrock, the 3-2 public favourite, established a new track record via his 1:52.2 victory. The Pet Rock youngster was steered by Tyler Smith for trainer Jeff Smith and Ohio owners JS Everhart, KJ Smith and C Young to a three-length triumph. It was the pari-mutuel debut for Letsallrock.
“I was pretty confident that he would pace that kind of mile—eventually,” Cox acknowledged. “However, I didn’t think he’d do it this soon.”
Letsallrock is nearly 17 hands tall and is as robust and solidly-built as he is statuesque.
“His dam—Noseitall—was a very nice mare that got hurt in an accident at Indiana Downs a few years ago,” Cox offered. “We bred her and her first foal died and this colt is her second foal. He’s a big baby—super well-mannered and very easy to handle and work with.”
Stark Hanover, a 6-1 shot driven by Dave Palone was second, while 9-5 Rockathon (Josh Sutton) finished third.
The talented conditioner Brenda Teague swept the next two OSS divisions with her charges--both sons of the stallion Im Gorgeous and both steered by her nephew, Montrell Teague.
Unsupported by the public at 13-1, Sip And A Bite scooted around the final turn seven-wide for his young reinsman to best rivals 3-1 Long Train Running and driver Josh Sutton and 5-1 Gotarockinmypocket, who finished third for Kayne Kauffman. A homebred, compact brown colt, Sip And A Bite finished three-quarters of a length in front at the wire for owner George Teague, Jr. of Harrington, DE.
Lather Up, the 5-2 favourite in the third OSS contest, paced to a winning 1:52.2—equaling the track record set in the first divisions by Letsallrock. Owned and bred by Gary and Barbara Iles of Harrington, DE, the freshman pacer left the gate handily and never looked back as he easily paced away from 4-1 rival Mcthirsty (Ryan Stahl) to prevail by 4-1/2 lengths with a :27.3 final brush. Panimal Kingdom (Dan Noble) a 37-1 longshot, finished third.
The Bauder family’s Sectionline Bigry took the fourth OSS division for driver Aaron Merrmian as the 6-1 choice. Conditioned by Steve Bauder for his cousin Harold Lee and his uncle Harold L Bauder of Delaware, OH, the Pet Rock gelding grabbed the lead at the :57.4 half and paced to a winning 1:54.2 triumph in just his second lifetime start for his connections, besting 10-1 Rock Hard (Jeremy Smith) by 3-1/2 lengths, with 1-5 Delaware Chrome (Montrell Teague) notching third-place honours.
The homebred pacer is out of the top Cambest mare Aquatic Yankee, whom Steve bought for $3,000 at the 1997 Kentucky Standardbred Sale and conditioned to win $751,230 as one of the top open pacing mares of her day. She went on to finish second to Eternal Camnation in the 2001 Breeders Crown Mare Pace under Steve’s care.
Seeing Eye Single used a near wire-to-wire performance to score his first victory in as many starts for driver Dave Palone and trainer Ron Burke. The 1-2 pubic choice freshman was the first foal by the ill-fated stallion Dragon Again to win an OSS event.
Owned by the partnership of Burke Racing, Silva Purnel & Libby, Lawrence Karr and Weaver Bruscemi, Seeing Eye Single paced the mile in 1:53.1 with 9-1 Cinnamack (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) two lengths back in second and 23-1 Mcwiz (Peter Wrenn) 8-½ lengths behind in third.
Born To Be Bad quickly grabbed the lead from the start for driver Josh Sutton and went on to win his OSS division in 1:55.1 in just his second lifetime start, earning his second consecutive victory. The 1-5 favourite, a son of Big Bad John, is conditioned by Ron Steck for breeders George Green and Marie Trombetta—both hailing from Clarksburg, NJ.
“This colt hasn’t even scratched the surface of his talent pool,” Sutton stated. “He’s amazing.”
Born To Be Bad won his career debut at Scioto Downs on June 27 in a $9,500 event, pacing in 1:54.3. In his OSS contest, he held off the hard-trying, 39-1 longshot Spectacular Rock (Jason Thompson), while 32-1 longshot Pacin To Paydaze was third with Kayne Kauffman at the lines.
Debbie Bird’s Rock On Creek led at every call to win his first lifetime start in 1:55.1 for driver Chris Page in seventh OSS division. Conditioned by Brian Brown, the Pet Rock homebred left the gate at odds of 3-5, finishing 2-1/4 lengths in front of 5-2 rival Redwood Again (Anthony MacDonald), with 9-1 Coach Zuzek notching third-place honours for driver Mike Wilder.
Harambe Deo, a 20-1 longshot by Woodstock, out of the Camluck mare Tea Time, captured the final OSS test of the afternoon with Kayne Kauffman in the sulky. A full brother to Bye Bye Felicia, Harambe Deo was bred by Billy Walters and Joe McLead and is conditioned by Chris McGuire for the Deo Volente Farms of Flemington, NJ and Howard Taylor of Philadelphia, PA. The youngster used come-from-behind tactics to best 5-2 McKinnon (Anthony MacDonald) by four lengths, with 4-1 Slick Mick(Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.) finishing third.
Ohio Sires Stakes continue July 5 at Scioto Downs, with six divisions of two-year-old Ohio-bred pacing fillies in the spotlight.
(OSDF)