Buckeye Thea repeats; Sutton takes dash lead

DAYTON, OH. – Despite temperatures hovering around the freezing mark, Buckeye Thea swept to her second straight $12,000 Fillies and Mares Open pace victory at Hollywood Dayton Raceway on Friday (December 18) by equalling her lifetime mark of 1:51.4.

With the impressive win, the five-year-old's tenth of the year and 22nd of her career, Buckeye Thea ran her lifetime bankroll to $$175,552 for owner Richard Paltani, who entrusts the training duties to Steve Carter.

Driver Josh Sutton was content to back off the gate from an outside post position, but didn't wait long to charge up and challenge pacesetteer Rockin Good (Jared Finn) after the :27 first quarter. By the halfway station, the winner had poked a head in front as the teletimer flashed :56.2. By the third split in 1:23 Buckeye Thea had opened up an impressive six-length lead, leaving the balance of the field little option but to fight for the minor spoils. Western Empress (Trace Tetrick) was best of the rest with American Girl (Tyler Smith) garnering the show dough.

The win was one of two through race ten on the program for Sutton, who has regained the lead in the local dash derby with just eight cards remaining in the Hollywood Dayton Raceway season.

Five wins on the Thursday night program pushed Sutton past Kayne Kauffman, who has held the lead for much of the meet.

The current tally is Sutton 102, Kauffman 94, with Chris Page 86, Dan Noble 84 and Jeremy Smith 80 rounding out the top five.

Gregg Keidel