Dojea Gizmo reigns king at Miami Valley

LEBANON, OH – Dojea Gizmo, who won the final two Opens at Hollywood Dayton Raceway in December, got his initial harness racing triumph of the 2022 season at Miami Valley on Thursday (Feb. 10) in capturing the $30,000 Open Handicap Pace.

Driver Trevor Smith took full advantage of an inside post draw to benefit from a two-hole trip behind pacesetter He’zzz A Wise Sky (John DeLong), who shipped in from Hawthorne riding a four-race win streak.

Favored Sectionline Bigry (Brett Miller) finished third in the talented field with combined earnings of almost $4 million.

Todd Luther trains Dojea Gizmo ($10.80) for Black Magic Racing of Blacklick, Ohio. The 5-year-old gelded son of Tellitlikeitis now possesses 18 wins and $324,544 in earnings with a lifetime best of 1:49 at The Meadowlands.

Americanprimetime (Chris Page) notched his 50th career victory in a high conditioned pace on the undercard.

The 10-year-old by American Ideal, owned by the Rock&Roll Stable and trained by Ken Rucker, has $865,913 in lifetime bounty and also owns a 1:49 speed badge taken at The Meadowlands.

Two divisions of first leg action in the $30,000 Claim To Fame series were also contested. In the first split, Ubuntu (Dan Noble) just held off Bell I No (Sam Widger) with Fox Valley Hustler (Mitch Cushing) finishing third.

Although there were three horses claimed from the race, the winner—owned by Norma Rae Racing of Xenia—was not one of them.

Levi (Widger) bested Voracity (Noble) and Threeofthebest A (Trace Tetrick) in the second division. There were ten claims entered on the runnerup, with the successful claimant being trainer Mike Peterson.

There will be an abbreviated make-up program raced on Friday (Feb. 11) with an earlier first race post time at 2:00 p.m.