Track record broken in $100,000 Old Oaken Bucket

Herodotus (Bar Hopping), behind an aggressive Dave Miller steer, rewrote the Delaware County Fair harness racing track record for three-year-old trotting geldings in the $100,000 Old Oaken Bucket for sophomore trotting colts and geldings at Delaware County Fair on Thursday afternoon (Sep. 21).

After dueling most of the way with race favorite Talent Scout (Dexter Dunn), Herodotus trotted away to a 1:53.1 score which bettered the previous track record set by Voyage To Paris, who was steered to a 1:53.2 score by Dan Noble in 2019.

Miller announced his intentions early in the mile by shooting straight to the front from post two, getting the jump on Talent Scout who left from the rail post.

Dunn tried for the retake as they passed the opening quarter in 27.3, but Miller was having none of it and he drove on with Herodotus. That left Drink Up Drink Up in the pocket. The half was reached in the same racing order in 55.3 with the five others in the field gapped out and out of contention.

Miller coaxed Herodotus through the three quarters in 1:24.1 with Talent Scout hanging around on the outside and Drink Up Drink Up lurking in the pocket. As the spun off the final turn, Herodotus quickly sprinted clear of his two rivals on his way to the track record score. Drink Up Drink Up used his perfect trip to take second ahead of a game but depleted Talent Scout.

HERODOTUS REPLAY

Winning owner Bud Hatfield said it was his wife Kelli that picked the $50,000 Lexington sale purchase out. “She loved him,” he recalled. “She kept looking at that video and she said we gotta have this horse.”

Herodotus was winning for the sixth time in 14 starts this year and he boosted his lifetime earnings to more than $262,000 for Ohio resident Hatfield and co-owner Burke Racing Stables of Pennsylvania. Ron Burke trains the gelding.

As second choice, Herodotus paid $9.40 to win.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Garnet Barnsdale, for Harnesslink