Four finish within a nose in $20,000 Trot

Martz Time (John DeLong) made it "two-in-a-row in Ohio" by pushing his nose in front of three harness racing rivals in the $20,000 Open Trot at Miami Valley Raceway on Easter Sunday (March 27). Penn (Josh Sutton) and Atlas Peak (Sandy Beatty) dead-heated for second with Cimeronken (Randy Tharps) finishing fourth.

All four combatants hit the wire within a nose of each other, each timed officially in 1:54.4.

Boffin, who set the 1:53.4 track record for older trotting males last season, finished fifth in his 2016 debut, just one length behind the tightly bunched quartet ahead of him.

Both Martz Time and Penn left alertly from outside post positions with Martz Time turning Penn loose just after the first quarter. Penn set the remaining fractions until Martz Time found a seam in mid-stretch and ultimately narrowly prevailed after the cavalry charge to the wire. Atlas Peak sat fifth until moving second over in the outer flow nearing the three-quarters station, then swung four-wide for the stretch drive.

Walter Haynes Jr. trains Martz Time for owners John McGill and Brian Carsey. The seven-year-old Indiana-sired squaregaiter now has 31 wins and has banked $376,981 in his career.

Gregg Keidel