Ohio State Fair Racing continued at Scioto Downs Racino Friday evening. The two 11 horse fields could not have played out more different as the trot field was lead gate-to-wire with one horse, Final Breath, and the pacing fillies saw Igottafeelinfran go from the second tier and 10th to winning in the last stride.
Final Breath went off as the 1-5 favourite and did not disappoint the fans as he won by two lengths in 1:57.3. The colt hasn’t been known to leave, but trainer/driver Hugh “Sandy” Beatty said that was the plan this time around.
“I’ve never left hard with this colt yet,” explained Beatty. “I just thought tonight it was the right time to kind of send him out of there, get him to the front and control everything and it worked out okay.”
Final Breath (Victory Sam-First Breath) is owned by Duane Lowe and has now earned $118,197 in his two-year racing career.
Igottafeelinfran left from the 11-hole and got away ninth, was parked the entire mile and yet won by a nose in 1:53.4, posting a last quarter in :27.4. Two Friskie (Kyle Ater) was the third betting choice and finished second; the pair were at seven and a quarter lengths ahead of the rest of the field. Driver Dan Noble took the lines for trainer Jim Dailey and owners Jerry Zosel, Kathy Ratcliff and Kimberly Dailey.
When asked if he thought he’d get there considering he was sixth at the three-quarter pole, Noble simply said “No."
“I was pretty confident at the second to last step; I was just thinking we were the best.”
The two divisions of two-year-old trotting colts were races one and two. Bradymeister and Ronnie Wrenn Jr. took the first division in 1:59.1, after a blistering :27.4 opening quarter for the Good Time Georgio colt.
“That was a pretty good quarter, he pretty much just towed me out of there,” said Wrenn. “I was trying to calm him down, but I really couldn’t. He was a little hot out of the gate.
“He [trainer Kurt Sugg] has another nice twp-year-old colt trotter so he offered me to allow me to drive this horse. He’s a pretty nice colt. I mean, he was getting a little tired off a :57.4 half, but he raced good.”
Getting away third and pulling just at the quarter pole, Rompaway Galaxy got the lead by the three-eighth pole and never looked back, trotting to victory in the first division.
“He’s good, he’s smart and he’s handy to drive,” said driver Mike Micallef. “So that makes it a lot easier."
Finishing the mile in 1:59.1, the colt by Rompaway Wally is now four-for-four this year.
After all the State Fair races were over, the fast miles at Scioto continued in race 10 when March Awareness and trainer/driver Ray Paver set a new track record for three-year-old gelding trotters when we won by a head in 1:54.4. The previous track record of 1:55.3 was set in 2008 by One Awesome Master and Sam “Chip” Noble.
The actual Ohio State Fair may run until Sunday, August 4, but the Ohio State Fair races finish Saturday at Scioto. Highlighting the special 1:00 p.m. card will be the two and three-year-old colt paces. Both races split into two divisions each, with the freshmen going for $34,000 in each, and each sophomore division going for $30,000.
Dibs, the two-year-old full brother to Pink Camo, is installed as the 9-5 favourite in the second division of colt pacers in race eight. Owned by the same connections as the fast female (Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Jason Melillo and Richard Suda), Dibs is looking for his third win in four starts with regular driver Tony Hall.
Outdoor Fever is coming off a 1:53.4 mile in the Summit County Fair stakes that are held at Northfield Park. He will have the same driver, Greg Grismore, when he goes behind the gate in race two. Feelin Lika Winner (Kayne Kauffman) is slated as the 2-1 morning line favourite.
(Scioto Downs)