The Champaign County Fair in Urbana, Ohio hosted the third leg of the Buckeye Stallion Series for freshman pacers on Monday, Aug. 4. The 11-race card featured six $27,778 divisions of freshman colt pacers and five $27,778 divisions of freshman filly pacers. Four colts recorded their second Buckeye Stallion Series victories of the season.
First-leg winners Odds On Rpj and Hunka Hunka and second-leg winners Wagon Day and Stoke The Fire added a second Buckeye victory to their ledgers in this round.
Hunka Hunka, driven by Brett Miller, posted the fastest time of the night among colt pacers, winning in 1:55.4. The Daren Harvey trainee, a Catch The Fire-Betterluvnexttime colt, has three wins in four starts this season.
Dan Noble drove Stoke The Fire and Odds On Rpj to victories in their respective divisions. Stoke The Fire won by five lengths in 1:56. Trained by Scott Cox, the Catch The Fire-Nyanna Hanover gelding has hit the board in three of four seasonal starts with two victories. Odds On Rpj edged out Ultimate Catch by a neck as both horses tripped the wire in 1:57.1. The Downbytheseaside-Odds On Ashley gelding is trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. He has two wins and one third in three starts this season.
Wagon Day scored his second victory of the season in four starts, winning by three lengths in 1:57. Kayne Kauffman drove the Summa Cum Laude-Western Mandy gelding for trainer Mike Polhamus.
The other male pacing winners on Monday were Summas Legacy for driver Chris Page and trainer Brian Brown in 1:57.1 and Aint No Fire for Noble and Thomas Litt in 1:57.3. It was the first career victory for Summa Cum Laude-Unique Legacy gelding Summas Legacy while Aint No Fire, a Catch The Fire-Aint No Trouble colt, has hit the board in five of six seasonal starts with three wins.
All five divisions of filly pacers featured first-time Buckeye winners.
The first filly division winner, Stride For Stride, posted the fastest time, winning by over two lengths in a lifetime-best 1:55.4. Justin Irvine drove the Lather Up-Serene Stride filly for trainer Garry Martin. She has three wins in four starts this season.
A four-time winner on the card, Noble also scored with Dustin Pfeifer trainee Shes As Well. The Well Said-Asadvertised filly won by more than seven lengths in 1:57.1 for her second victory in six starts.
Tyler Smith scored driving wins with Fire Country and Standerosa. Fire Country won by two lengths in 2:00, marking her second victory in five seasonal starts. The Catch The Fire-Face To Face filly is trained by Logan Rowe. Standerosa recorded her first career victory, taking her division in 1:59.1. A filly by The Panderosa out of Still Standing, she is trained by Tye Loy.
Page added a second driving win in the card, guiding Brown trainee Atom Heart Mother to victory in 2:00. It was the first career win for the Downbytheseaside-High Reward filly.
Buckeye Stallion Series action continues on Monday, Aug. 11, with the fourth leg for sophomore filly trotters at MGM Northfield Park.
The three-day Champaign County Fair meet continues on Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug. 5-6). Both days feature a 15-race card beginning at 6:30 p.m. The races will be live streamed on the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association YouTube channel.
(With files from Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association; photo of Hunka Hunka from a previous win at Northfield Park)