After the track had taken on some rain leading into the Tuesday, September 20 card of racing at the Delaware Ohio County Fair, there was an outside chance that the half-miler wasn't going to be lightning-fast for the afternoon card. Count Me In did his best to toss that notion
.
Count Me In, a two-year-old gelded trotter, equalled the track record when he captured the $20,822 Ohio Breeders Championship on Tuesday.
Sam Noble III guided the son of Full Count around a breaking Carolina Carl at the start of the dash. After that, the pair settled into fifth for the :28.2 opening quarter. Count Me In was forced to go three-wide at the half (:58.2). He cleared to the lead before the three-quarters (1:27.4). He cruised home with a :30.1 final quarter and secured a whopping eight and three-quarter-length victory in 1:58, which equalled the track mark set by Uncle Vernon in 2003.
Count Me In is owned by Patricia J. Wollam and Acadia Farms, Inc. and is conditioned by Marty Wollam.
In the second division, Its Jesse Time (driven by Kayne Kauffman) scored a mild upset in 1:58.3. The freshman son of Jailhouse Jesse scored a two and three-quarer-length victory over Rock N Jesse (Ray Paver) and Al Brown (Alfred Manke III).
Its Jesse Time is trained by Jerry Lighthill for Charles W. Miller of Wauseon, Ohio.
Cinder Angelina (Ryan Stahl) won the $8,500 Delaware Open for three-year-old pacing fillies in 1:57.2. The sophomore daughter of American Ideal is owned by Mark D. Williams and Ron A. Hibbard and is trained by Steve Carter.
North America's dash-leading driver of 2011, Dan Noble, enjoyed a seven-win performance on the matinee program.
Noble Sweeps OBC 2YOFT
On Tuesday, September 20, Dan Noble swept the Ohio Breeders Championship for two-year-old trotting fillies by picking up wins with Jessica Rayne and Lady At Bat.
In the first division, Jessica Rayne scored a half-length victory over U R Toast (driven by Ed Greeno, Jr.) in 2:05.
The daughter of Jailhouse Jesse won for the sixth time in nine seasonal starts for C. Ed Mullinax and Matthew A. Toler and trainer Virgil Morgan, Jr.
In the second $17,722 division, Lady At Bat fought off a late challenge by TTs Taterchip (Sam Noble III) to win by two and a quarer lengths in 2:02.1.
Lady At Bat is owned by G & B Racing and conditioned by Marty Wollam, who has won four OBC events this week.
Noble, North America’s leading dash winner of 2011, had seven wins on the day.
(With files from the LBJ)