Little Rocket Man blasts off to 17th win

Little Rocket Man (Rockin Image) with harness racing driver Jeremy Smith flew three-wide from sixth place and came on in the stretch like gangbusters to win the $25,000 Open Handicap Pace Thursday (Dec. 7) at Hollywood Dayton Raceway.

The 10th race feature saw Carbine (Tyler Smith) leave from post five and worked his way to the lead over Cody Hanover (Brett Miller) at the opening quarter mile in :26.1.

As they came to the half mile, Artatac A (Dan Noble) went first-over with Later Dudes (Chris Page) second over and the race favorite, Little Rocket Man, third over. The half mile went in :55.2.

Going down the backstretch, Carbine continued to lead the way with Artatac A gaining ground first-over and then Jeremy Smith sent Little Rocket Man three-wide by the three-quarters in 1:22.

Fanning out off the final turn, Little Rocket Man was in fourth place but right up close to the action as they started down the stretch and he dug in to pass everyone by and win by two lengths in 1:50.1. Captain Romance (Kayne Kauffman) closed well to be second with Carbine third.

LITTLE ROCKET MAN REPLAY

It was the third straight win for Little Rocket Man and his 17th win of the year. He is trained by Ken Rucker for owners Russell Beeman and Jack Freeman, paying just $2.20 to win.

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

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink