Tony Hall and Grace Hill impressive at Dayton

Dayton, Ohio – Grace Hill (Always B Miki) didn’t disappoint her harness racing backers as the 1-5 favorite in the $25,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace on Friday (Oct. 7) at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway.

Despite being assigned to post eight, Grace Hill put herself into position and quickly settled into a pocket trip.

The mare sat patiently through an opening quarter in :26.4 and half in :55.3. The mare and driver Tony Hall made their winning move headed into the final turn.

After reaching the three-quarters marker in 1:23.2, Grace Hill demanded control.  With a :27.0 closing quarter, Grace Hill pulled away from the field and stopped the clock in 1:50.4. Velocity Lady (Jeremy Smith) was second while Penpaperpaige (Tyler Smith) completed the trifecta.

Conditioned by Virgil Morgan Jr, the Open victory marked the fifth of the season for Grace Hill. In 42 lifetime starts, the 4-year-old mare has hit the board a total of 27 times and banked over $876,000 for owner Tom Hill.

GRACE HILL REPLAY

Hall ended the evening by winning six of 14 races. Five of those victories came in back-to-back fashion. Trevor Smith also scored a driving double while Todd Luther won two on the training side.

Live racing will resume Saturday (Oct. 8) at Dayton Raceway. First post of the 14-race card is 4:00PM. For more information on the facility and live racing season, visit here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ashley Dailey, for the OHHA