Over a track rated 'good', Homicide Hunter and driver Aaron Merriman captured the $200,000 Charlie Hill Memorial in world record fashion on Saturday (June 9) at Eldorado Scioto Downs.
The winning time of 1:50.3 equaled the world record for an older gelding trotter on a five-eighths-mile track and was a stakes and track record.
Defending champion Crazy Wow and two-time Dan Patch Award-winner Marion Marauder were scratched sick, reducing the field to seven horses. Race-favourite Will Take Charge went off stride at the start and finished sixth.
I Know My Chip took the early lead in a :26.3 opening quarter-mile before seeing Smalltownthrowdown get the top spot prior to the half-mile point. Driver Sam Widger moved I Know My Chip back to the lead at the half, reached in :54.2, but faced pressure from Homicide Hunter, who was in front by the time he reached three-quarters in 1:22. Homicide Hunter pulled away to win by four-and-a-half lengths over In Secret (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr.), with Charmed Life (Tyler Smith) finishing third.
Homicide Hunter is a six-year-old gelding by Mr Cantab out of Evening Prayer. He is owned by Crawford Farms Racing of New York and trained by Chris Oakes. The horse was bred by Patrick Graham.
For the year, Homicide Hunter has won two of three races and earned $116,500. For his career, he has won 32 of 65 starts and banked $1.22 million.
The Charlie Hill Memorial honours Hall of Famer Charles Hill, who was the founder and former president and chairman of the board of Scioto Downs.
Homicide Hunter went off at odds of 3-1 and paid $8.60 to win.
Despite a threatening night of thunder, lightning, high winds and showers, owner Bruce Trogdon couldn’t have been happier June 9, when Cinnamack and Bounding Dragon finished first and second in the first of two $50,000 Ohio Sires Stakes for three-year-old pacing colts at Scioto Downs.
“I was so happy to see both of them leading down the stretch,” Trogdon said. “Of course I was hoping my horse [Cinnamack] would get up for the win, but I was just so happy for both of them, as they are both out of two of my best mares.”
Bounding Dragon had led throughout most of the mile for Josh Sutton, but in late stretch Chris Page steered Cinnamack through the inside to nail down his fourth victory in five starts this year in 1:50.4 by a head over his rival—equaling his lifetime best score.
The bay son by McArdle is out of the unraced Western Ideal mare Armbro Cinnamon, making him a half-brother to world-champion Fear The Dragon. To date he’s earned $95,600 for Trogdon’s Emerald Highlands Farm of Mount Vernon, Ohio.
“I raised both of these youngsters, so it’s always a great feeling to see both of them perform so well,” Trogdon said.
Conditioned by Brian Brown, Cinnamack left the gate at odds of 2-1, as did rival Bounding Dragon. Sectionline Biguy notched show honors with Tyler Smith at the lines.
“I also have a super-looking yearling who is a full brother to Fear The Dragon,” Trogdon said. That youngster’s name is Dragon Roars Again.
Cinnamack is the sixth of seven foals out of his dam, and has a full brother in McSinner Man p, 4, 1:52.3s ($54,466), and half-siblings in Cinamony (by Art Official) p, 4, 1:49.3f ($532,404) and Cndiana Jones p, 7, 1:53.1f ($115,599).
In the second $50,000 division of Ohio Sires Stakes, Kimberly Dailey harnessed 9-5 Rockathon to a 1:51.1 victory with Dan Noble at the lines. The gelded son of Pet Rock, who is owned in partnership by Dailey and Carl and Melanie Atley of Xenia, Ohio, picked up his sixth lifetime win in 16 starts, upping his lifetime bankroll to $186,012.
Rockathon wrestled the lead away from 21-1 longshot Parklane Official just past the :27.2 opening panel, and went on to lead at every post, before brushing home in a brisk :27.4 to win by a one-and-a-quarter lengths over the hard-trying 1-2 Slick Mick, with 9-1 JoJo’s Pet Rock another seven lengths back in third.
Rockathon is the seventh foal out of The Panderosa dam Pantathlon p, 2, 1:54.4F ($20,221) and is a half-brother to: Pan From Nantucket (by No Pan Intended) p,5, 1:51.3h ($570,801); Rosemary Rose (by Foreclosure N) p,4,1:51f ($293,382); Panstakingly (by No Pan Intended) p, 3, 1:54.2s ($64,490); Nip Pan Tuck (by No Pan Intended) p,2,1:54.4s ($50,899); and Holiday Romance p,3, 1:56.2f ($39,289).
Ohio Sires Stakes action continues Monday, June 11 at Northfield Park when three-year-old trotting fillies line up behind the starting gate in leg-two action.
(With files from the USTA and the Ohio Sires Stakes)