Battle Hill and Lt Loverboy will vie for Ohio Sires Stakes (OHSS) supremacy among sophomore colt trotters as MGM Northfield Park hosts a plethora of state-bred performers on Saturday, Aug. 9.
The 16-race card at Northfield includes two $65,000 USD divisions each of sophomore colt and filly trotters in the fourth leg of the OHSS as part of a big night of racing headlined by the $300,000 USD Carl Milstein Memorial, the $100,000 USD Tom Aldrich President’s Trot, and the $100,000 Myron Charna President’s Pace. There will also be two $65,000 divisions of freshman filly pacers and three $50,000 divisions of freshman colt pacers in their third leg of the OHSS.
Battle Hill and Lt Loverboy lead the way with two wins each through three legs of the OHSS for colt trotters and are in the first division on Saturday along with two other top contenders in Vekna and Long Highway.
Vekna is the early 2-1 favourite and will leave from the rail with trainer Kayne Kauffman in the sulky. The Enterprise gelding has hit the board in six of seven seasonal starts with three wins. He trotted a lifetime-best 1:54 at Eldorado Scioto Downs on May 9, won his division in the first leg of the OSS at Northfield in 1:56.3, and is coming off a victory in the Ohio State Fair Stakes at Scioto in 1:54.2. He has nine wins and earnings of $210,504 in 14 lifetime starts.
Lt Loverboy (Brett Miller) is the 5-2 second choice. The Daren Harvey trainee posted wins in the second and third legs of the OHSS in 1:52.4 and a lifetime-best 1:52.1, respectively, as part of three overall victories on the season. The Long Tom gelding also won the final of the James K. Hackett Memorial at Miami Valley Raceway. He has nine wins and $583,065 in earnings in 17 career starts.
Driven by trainer Sandy Beatty, Long Highway is the 3-1 third choice. The Long Tom colt has four wins and $120,342 banked in 11 seasonal starts, including a victory in the State Fair Stakes. Battle Hill (Chris Lems) opened with 7-2 odds. Trained by Matthew Burkholder, the Marseille gelding recorded victories in the first two legs of the OSS in 1:56.3 and 1:54.4, respectively, to highlight his four seasonal wins. He has eight victories and $380,391 in earnings in 16 lifetime starts.
Jet Wings (Dexter Dunn), a winner in the third leg of the OHSS, is the narrow 9-5 second choice to 8-5 morning line favourite Scrappys Love (Dan Noble) in the second division. Trained by Chris Beaver, Scrappys Love has three wins this season. The Long Tom colt has hit the board in 15 of 18 lifetime starts with five wins and $354,345 in earnings. After finishing as a runner-up in the second leg of the OHSS, Jet Wings posted a victory in the third leg in 1:54. The What The Hill gelding is trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. He has hit the board in nine of 11 seasonal starts with four wins and five seconds and has eight victories and $228,103 in earnings in 26 lifetime starts.
In the fourth leg for sophomore filly trotters, Aunt Laura (Miller) is looking to add a third OHSS victory after winning the first two legs in 1:56.3 and 1:54, respectively. Trained by Morgan Jr., she is the lone three-year-old filly trotter with multiple OHSS wins this season. The Uncle Peter filly shares 7-2 morning line odds with Mocha Hill (Chris Page) as co-second choice behind 5-2 favourite In The End (Noble) in the first division. Aunt Laura has four seasonal wins and earnings of $457,080 in 18 lifetime starts.
In The End has hit the board in seven of eight starts this season with five wins and is trained by Anette Lorentzon. The Lionhunter filly posted a win in the third leg of the OSS in a lifetime-best 1:53.4 and has $153,515 in career earnings. Mocha Hill, who posted a win in the State Fair Stakes in a lifetime-best 1:54.3, has seven victories and $420,662 in earnings in 16 lifetime starts. The division also includes Jailhouse Pearl (Austin Hanners), who has hit the board in eight of nine seasonal starts with three wins. The Long Tom filly is trained by Eric Nesselroad. She posted a victory in the State Fair Stakes in a lifetime-best 1:54.2 and won in the second leg of the OHSS in 1:54.4. She has hit the board in 23 of 24 lifetime starts with 13 wins and $231,149 in earnings.
The second division is headlined by Mega Money (Aaron Merriman) and Dream Something (Tyler Smith), who have each won a leg of the OSS this season. Mega Money is the early 3-2 favourite and will leave from the rail. A Chris Beaver trainee, she posted a win in the third leg of the OHSS in a lifetime-best 1:53.3 and was the runner-up to Dream Something in the first leg. The Triumphant Caviar filly has six wins and $334,094 in earnings in 18 lifetime starts.
Dream Something, the 3-1 second choice, will leave from post two. The Miles Wollam trainee has hit the board in five of six starts this season with two wins. One of those wins came in the first leg of the OHSS in a lifetime-best 1:53.3. The Uncle Peter filly was the runner-up to In The End in the third leg and placed third in the second leg. She has seven wins and earnings of $307,647 in 15 career starts.
Freshman filly pacer Shesafirewoman is looking to stay perfect in this year’s Ohio Sires Stakes as the freshman filly pacers head to Northfield for the third leg
Shesafirewoman opened as the heavy 4-5 favourite in the second division of filly pacers in the OHSS and will leave from post three. The Catch The Fire filly won her division in the opening leg at Northfield in 1:54.3 and posted a lifetime-best 1:51.4 in her second-leg victory at Eldorado Scioto Downs. Luke Hanners was in the sulky for each of those wins and returns for Saturday’s race.
Owned by Harry Horowitz, Shesafirewoman has hit the board in all five starts this season with four wins and one runner-up finish and $108,254 accrued.
Rodeo Dancer (Brett Miller) is the 4-1 second choice in the division and will leave from the rail. The Steve Bauder trainee was the runner-up to Shesafirewoman in the first leg of the OHSS and has one win this season.
Shacarri (Chris Page), the runner-up to Shesafirewoman in the second leg, is the even-money morning line favourite in the first division. Trained by Ron Burke, the Summa Cum Laude filly has won twice in four starts this season, including a division of the Ohio State Fair Stakes at Scioto. In her other victory, she equaled the Scioto track record for two-year-old filly pacers, tripping the wire in 1:51.1 in her first career start on July 5. Zooom Call (Dan Noble) will leave from the rail as the 5-2 second choice. The Steve Carter trainee has one second and two thirds in five seasonal starts.
Seaside Shuffle, who is two-for-two in the OHSS this year, is not entered in the third leg. She is instead entered to race in the $80,000 second leg of the Kentucky Championship Series for two-year-old filly pacers on Sunday at The Red Mile.
The third leg of the OHSS for freshman colt pacers will also be contested Saturday at Northfield. Just one leg has been completed, however, as the second leg, originally scheduled for July 26 at Scioto, was postponed to Aug. 30.
Three of the four winners from the first leg are entered in the third leg, two of which — Swelce and Illbetyourboots — are in a loaded second division. Illbetyourboots (Page; pictured above) opened as the 8-5 favourite and will leave from post five next to 4-1 third choice Swelce (Mike Wilder) in post four. Trained by Burke, Illbetyourboots has hit the board in all four seasonal starts with three wins. In addition to his OHSS victory in 1:54 at Northfield, he won his division of The Next Generation at Scioto in a lifetime-best 1:52. The Summa Cum Laude gelding has earnings of $142,392.
Heerz Corinthian (Aaron Merriman) will leave from post three as the 7-2 second choice. The Jessica McCown trainee is a two-time winner in the Buckeye Stallion Series this season. Swelce, the runner-up in The Next Generation, won his division in the first leg of the OHSS in a lifetime-best 1:55. The Jeff Nisonger trainee has two wins and two seconds in five starts. The division also includes Pet Project (Trevor Smith), who opened with 9-2 odds and will leave from post six. The Kimberly Dailey trainee is coming off a victory in the OSFS in a lifetime-best 1:52.2.
The first division is highlighted by 2-1 morning line favourite Gentlemans Club (Andrew McCarthy) and 5-2 second choice Crocodile Station (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.). Gentlemans Club has two wins this season, including a lifetime-best 1:54.3 in the opening leg of the OHSS. The Downbytheseaside colt is trained by Aaron Lambert. Crocodile Station is coming off an Ohio State Fair win in 1:52.3, marking the first career victory for the Michael Hitchcock trainee.
Odds On Sugar (Dexter Dunn) is the early 5-2 favourite in the third division and will leave from the far outside. The Virgil Morgan Jr. trainee has one win and one second in four starts this season. Caillou Hanover (Noble) is the 7-2 second choice.
Saturday’s first-race post time at MGM Northfield Park is 6 p.m.
(Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association)