Dan Noble and Virgil Morgan Jr. teamed up to win the Open Pace Saturday night at Scioto Downs Racino - and the win put Morgan just 19 wins short of the coveted 5,000 win mark for trainers.
With the assigned seven post position, Noble and I Found My Beach headed straight for the front and never looked back. Keeping at least a length between him and pocket-sitter Carols Comet (Aaron Merriman) during every point of call, I Found My Beach won by a length in 1:51.3.
Herres Stables LLC owns the four-year-old gelding by Mach Three out of the Stand Forever mare Ohio Annie. I Found My Beach is the first foal from the mare and has a two-year-old full brother, Whistle Jimmy K, who sold for $97,000 at the 2012 Standardbred Sale in Harrisburg.
Morgan, a long-time Scioto based trainer, has $41.6 million in lifetime purses. He is now just 19 wins away from 5,000 lifetime wins. He has never had less than a .311 UTRS while maintaining at least 752 starts (he had up to 1,743 starts in 2000) per year since 1997.
Through racing on Saturday, Morgan sits third in the standings of 2013 top trainers by wins with 236 and seventh in earnings with $2.48 million. His current year UTRS of .374 has him sitting second, for trainers with 500+ starts, to Daniel Gill who has a .412.
Racing will continue at Scioto Wednesday (Aug 28) with a first post of 6:30 p.m. and continues Thursday and Saturday. The track will be dark on Friday due to the on-track Gretchen Wilson concert.
Just one week later, Scioto will play host to Ohio’s Super Night on September 7, with eight Sire Stakes Finals, going for $150,000 each, and the Jim Ewart Memorial Invitational Pace, which carries an estimated $125,000 purse to attract the best older pacers in North America.
(With files from Scioto Downs)