The Ohio stakes season got underway Monday afternoon (April 9) at Miami Valley Raceway, as a pair of $15,000 eliminations of the James K. Hackett Memorial Series were contested.
It was the three-year-old Ohio-bred trotting fillies that got the series underway on Monday.
Red Storm (who was driven by Aaron Merriman) opened her sophomore campaign with an impressive track record 1:56.2 score in the first elimination. The favoured Impinktoo (Peter Wrenn), a half-sister to Hambletonian winner Pinkman and last year’s Ohio Sires Stakes champion, closed well to finish second. California Love (Trace Tetrick) advanced with a show finish. Kellies MVP (Ray Paver Jr.) qualified for the final with a fourth-place finish, as did Spunky Bottom Girl (Tyler Smith) on the merits of the quickest fifth-place finish. Chris Beaver trains Red Storm, a chestnut daughter of Stormin Normand, for owner Sandra Burnett.
The heavily favoured Non Smoker, a grey filly by My MVP, lived up to expectations with a handy 1:57.1 score for trainer-driver Dan Noble in the second split. Sesame (Aaron Merriman), Bang (Kayne Kauffman) and Bugs MVP (Tetrick) followed the winner through the wire to qualify for their lucrative final. Steve Sexton owns Non Smoker, who was making her seasonal debut after a conservative freshman campaign that included two county fair victories.
The top-four finishers in each heat plus the fastest fifth place finisher will reassemble next Monday afternoon for a $40,000 divisional championship race.
Two Hackett Memorial eliminations for Ohio-sired trotting colts will be contested Tuesday afternoon (April 10) at Miami Valley, followed by elims for pacing fillies on Friday night and pacing colts on Saturday. Each of the four Hackett championship tilts, which will be contested a week later, will carry $40,000 purses.
(With files from Miami Valley Raceway)