Intrepid Ivy delivers Charity win

She wasn’t listed in the race program, but Hannah’s Treasure Chest (Always A Virgin) was a big harness racing winner Saturday night (Dec. 6) at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway thanks to the efforts of Intrepid Ivy. The nine-year-old pacer was partnered with the Dayton area charity that received $10,000 from the Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association.

At the start of the $11,000 conditioned pace, Intrepid Ivy (Marc St. Louis, Jr.) and Theheavyweightway (Trevor Smith) were engaged in a speed duel, opening up a five length lead on the rest of the field at the quarter in :26.1.

Theheavyweightway maintained control past the half in :55.4.

Manny (David Miller) was pulled down the backstretch and applied pressure at the three-quarters in 1:23.4.

When the leaders turned for home, Intrepid Ivy was ducked into the passing lane and was able to nip a closing Tankalicious (Luke Plano) by a head and Theheavyweightway by a neck.

INTREPID IVY REPLAY

The final time was 1:52.3.

Trainer Stacie Currie is the owner of the Always A Virgin gelding, who won for the 11th time this season.

In the night’s featured event, the $28,000 Open Handicapped pace, it was Surreal Ideal (Brett Miller) winning for the tenth straight time.

The start saw a four-horse scramble for early command. When the dust settled, it was Diego N (Trace Tetrick) on top and Better Is Nice (Tyler Smith) in the pocket through the opening panels of :26 and :54.3.

Surreal Ideal, who was assigned the outside post #9, was first-over for most of the mile and was just outside the leader at the three-quarters in 1:22.

Surreal Ideal used a :27.4 final quarter and gutted out a head victory over a late closing Gorgeous Big Guy (Chris Page).

Better Is Nice was a half-length back in third.

Vernon Beachy trains the seven-year-old gelded son of So Surreal for the 518 Group and Gitup Racing.

Driver Brett Miller recorded a driving triple on the-race card.

Racing returns to the Dayton oval on Tuesday (Dec. 9) with a:00 pm post time. Free past performance pages are available at hollywooddaytonraceway.com.

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

By Jay Wolf for Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway