Father-Son team score Open win

The father/son training/driving duo of Jeff Smith and Tyler Smith won the $24,000 Fillies & Mares Open II pace Wednesday (Sept. 24) at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway.

Scratched down to a field of eight, a trio of pacers were fired off the starting gates wings – Dragon By The Sea (Tyler Smith), Adashious Hanover (Sam Widger) and Naked On A Hill (Chris Page) – and after the early dust settled, it was Dragon By The Sea passing the opening quarter in :25.4.

Smith was looking for a second quarter breather, but Naked On A Hill applied steady pressure past the half in :54.

Ultimately, the Naked On A Hill challenge didn’t amount to much, as the mare faded down the backstretch and allowed Dragon By The Sea to open up a nearly three-length lead past the three-quarters in 1:21.2.

The pocket sitting Adashious Hanover couldn’t get any closer than the final margin of 2 ¾ lengths with Dragon By The Sea crossing the line in 1:50.3.

A late rally by Foxy Hill (Luke Hanners) resulted in a third-place finish over Yankee B Something (Tony Hall).

The five-year-old Downbytheseaside mare is owned by John Van Horn. Dragon By The Sea scored her fifth win of the season and the 19th of her career.

DRAGON BY THE SEA REPLAY

In a $14,000 Conditioned Pace for fillies and mares, Seeyouontheotherside (Tony Hall) gutted out a narrow victory despite the fact that the she never saw a pylon during the mile.

Forced three-wide at the start, Seeyouontheotherside stuck a nose ahead at the half, but could not clear the pacesetting Capytreach (Trevor Smith).

The pair raced in tandem the final half-mile with Seeyouontheotherside prevailing by ¾ lengths in 1:52.4. Capytreach survived a three-way photo over Sharp Looker (Cam McCown) and Bluebird Alexis (Tyler Smith) for second.

Anette Lorentzon trains and owns the Captain Crush four-year-old.

Luke Hanners and Jeremy Smith had driving triples during the 14-race card.

Dayton Raceway’s live action returns tomorrow afternoon with another 14 races at 4:00 PM.

Friday night will feature seven divisions of the $100,000 Ohio Sire Stakes Gray Championships.

Saturday’s card will have the $1 million (div.) Dayton Derbies and eight $300,000 Ohio Sire Stakes Scarlet Championships.

Post time for Friday and Saturday will be 6:30 PM.

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

by Jay Wolf, for Hollywood Dayton Raceway