Ronnie Wrenn Jr. started the Thursday night card at Scioto Downs on fire, as he won the first dash. He ended the evening with a bang by winning the last race. Wrenn's final win, a 1:54 mile with Knob Hill Sadie, didn’t just finishing the evening with a nightcap, it gave him his fifth victory of the evening.
Wrenn’s charge in the first race, Rediscovery (Tell All-Dream Card), broke his maiden by coming home in :27.4 to win in 1:54.2. Only the third foal out of his dam, the colt has genetic potential for speed, as his full sister, Spend It All, took a mark this year of 1:51.4; and his three-quarter brother by Real Desire, Real Hero, took his 1:51.2 mark at three. The Ben Davis trainee led from the half call on and never looked back --- but neither did his driver. Wrenn went on to win four more races from 12 total starts. He also finished in the money three other times.
Wrenn’s other wins came with Play Right, a trotter trained by Michael Walker who won in 1:59.2; QB Sam, who captured Race 10 for owner/trainer Dean Fraker in a new lifetime best 1:53.3; Victorinthevalley, another trotter, who scored in 1:57.4 for trainer Jeff Miller; and the aforementioned Knob Hill Sadie, who is trained by Noah Garrett.
Wrenn, a 26-year-old native of Michigan, sits fourth in the driver standings at Scioto with 46 wins from 337 starts so far this season. Scioto racing veterans Chris Page and Dan Noble sit third and second, respectively, while Tony Hall sits atop of the leader board with 87 victories at the Columbus track after winning four races himself Thursday.
Wrenn sits third in the U.S. in terms of wins with 353 at the end of racing Thursday, just surpassing Tim Tetrick, who has 349 and behind Corey Callahan (401) and Dave Palone (382). He also sits ninth in the national standings with a .345 UDR. Wrenn is well on his way to having his best year of racing with $1,295,014 in purse earnings (versus his 2012 best year of $1,546,137).
Big Friday (No Saturday) Racing at Scioto
With no live racing on Saturday at Scioto Downs due to the Jamey Johnson concert, the racing card Friday night is stacked with races of all the top level horses.
There will be 14 races on the card and Scioto’s leading trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. has nine horses entered in as many races. He has the morning-line favourite in the top class Open Pace and non-winners of $7,500 trot, as well as the second favourite in the Fillies & Mares Open Pace. The Opens will be held back-to-back, in races eight and nine respectively; the male division is the ninth race with the Super High Five bet and 11-horse field.
Morning-line favourite Lonesome Attack will start from the second tier out of Post 11, while Lucky Lime with Post 10 is the second favourite. Driver Dan Noble will take Lonesome Attack to post for Morgan. The five-year-old gelding comes off an eighth-place finish in the Open Handicap at Northfield Park after being parked the entire mile, but prior to that had a win, two seconds and a third in five starts at the Meadows, pacing consistently in 1:51 and change. The second favourite, Lucky Lime, will have regular driver Kyle Ater; the pair won the Open last week at Scioto in 1:52 for trainer Dean Glispie.
The Open Pace for the ladies has a full field of 10 entered with Blissfull Romance (Tony Hall) and Freedom Crossing (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) installed as the early favourites, even while having to leave from their assigned eight and nine posts. Freedom Crossing also hails from the Morgan Stable and has been consistently racing in the Opens at Scioto in 1:52. Blissfull Romance comes into town for the Ron Burke Stable after racing at three different tracks in as many starts, in each track’s Open or Preferred at the Meadows, Buffalo Raceway and Vernon Downs.
In the non-winners of $7,500 last four conditioned trot, which was split into two divisions with 10 horses in each, Morgan sets Deck the Halls (Noble) and Highland Yankee (Wrenn) out as morning-line favourites. Highland Yankee comes back to try and win two in a row after coming west from Yonkers Raceway, while Deck the Halls has been consistently racing in 1:55-1:56 while at Scioto.
First-race post time for the Friday card will be 6:30 p.m. at Scioto. Racing will then continue Wednesday (July 31) and continue through Friday with the normal 6:30 p.m. post. Saturday, with special Ohio State Fair racing for two and three-year-old colt pacers, post time will be at 1:00 p.m. and Sunday, post time will be held at 5:00 p.m.
(Scioto Downs)