Four first-leg divisions of the George ‘Red’ Owens Memorial Series highlighted the Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7) matinee at Miami Valley Raceway.
Real Rockin Ravi (Dan Noble) hung on to win the first split in 1:56.1, beating a hard-charging Sweet Sensation (Trevor Smith), with Three Babes (Jeremy Smith) finishing third. A winner of eight county fair races as a juvenile, the winning four-year-old daughter of Pet Rock overcame the outermost post position in her initial 2021 start for trainer Bret Schwartz.
Better Days Ahead (Mitchell Cushing) prevailed by a long nose over Adonis Minus Forty (Tyler Smith) in the second division, also timed in 1:56.1. Favorued Cruizin The Night (Brett Miller) was third. The winner, a Yankee Cruiser filly, notched her second commercial win at The Meadows a day after the Owens series nomination deadline before making the successful transition to Miami Valley for trainer Mike Hitchcock.
Traffic Citation (Kayne Kauffman) upset the third division field with a 10-1 score in 1:58.2. Another Pet Rock-sired four-year-old, the Ben Davis trainee bested Big Bad Bertha (Miller) and Lillian Rose (Jason Brewer). Another seasoned Ohio county fair competitor, Traffic Citation won five times last season, with four of those tallies coming at fairs.
The final Owens split was captured by Apologize (Sam Widger) in 1:57.1 over Skyway Igotthis (Trevor Smith) and Twin Power (Noble). Cassidy Whitton owns and trains the four-year-old daughter of Panspacificflight who now sports five career triumphs, but needed the winner’s share of the $10,000 purse to surpass $20,000 in career bounty.
One of nine “Lebanon Legends” late closers in February and March, the Owens is for fillies and mares that were non-winners of two races or $20,000 lifetime at nomination time.
(Miami Valley Raceway)