Celebrity Pegasus, Artistic Cut best at Northville

Celebrity Pegasus (Andover Hall – Celebrity Athena) and driver Kim Pluta and Artistic Cut (Artspeak  – Paper Cut) and driver Jason Merriman captured their respective Open harness racing divisions Friday night (Sept. 15) at Northville Downs.

In the Open Trot (race seven), Celebrity Pegasus took the pocket ride behind early pacesetter Rose Run Vincent and David Lake past the quarter in 28 seconds, half in 58.1 and three-quarters in 1:27.3. At the top of the stretch, Celebrity Pegasus drifted out from the pocket to three wide and got up at the wire to win in 1:58.2 by a length over runner-up Little Jedi (John Moody) as Saulsgood closed well for third after an early break in stride.

CELEBRITY PEGASUS REPLAY

It was the 51^st career win for Celebrity Pegasus who is owned by Joshua Graber and trained by Samuel Eicher.

In race eight, the Mares Open Pace, an early battle ensued into the first turn between Cruisin Thru Time (Kody Massey) and Juxta Cowgirl (Art McIlmurray), with Cruisin Thru Time settling up top and Juxta Cowgirl dropping into the pocket. They went past the quarter in 27.3, half in 57.1, as Artistic Cut and Jason Merriman came first up at the half. As they went to the three-quarters, Artistic Cut wrestled the lead away from Cruisin Thru Time as they tripped the beam to three-quarters in 1:26.2.

As they turned for home, Artistic Cut opened up to win by two lengths in 1:56.3, a new season’s best mark. Rocks StormyD and Drew Neill overcame broken equipment to close back up for second and Skyway Venus (M. Deruntz) closed well for third.

ARTISTIC CUT REPLAY

Artistic Cut is owned and trained by Techia Lohmann and the win was the 12^th of the five-year-old mare’s  career and her second win at the Open level. For driver Jason Merriman, the win was career driving win number 2,999 and he is now just one away from the elusive 3,000 milestone.

Driver Art McIlmurray had a driving and training double on the night and Paul Cloer, Jr. had a training double as well.

Racing at The Ville resumes Saturday (Sept 16) at 7 p.m. Northville Downs races every Friday and Saturday night until November 25 with a 7 p.m. post time. For live racing dining reservations, be sure to call Northville Downs in advance at 248.924.2073.

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