MSS action, records broken at Ocean Downs

BERLIN, Md. — Ronald Short’s homebred Babes All In (Rusty’s All In-Aunt Babe) rode the pocket to an odds-on victory in Sunday’s (July 7) $25,500 Maryland Sire Stakes for 4- and 5-year-old harness racing pacers at Ocean Downs.

A two-time Maryland Sire Stakes series champion — once at 2, once at 3 — Babes All In and driver Jonathan Roberts landed in a clear pocket behind Smooth Rocket (driven by Russell Foster) to stalk fractions of :27.2, :57.4 and 1:27. Roberts edged the 4-year-old gelding off the pegs with three-sixteenths to go, and the pair surged past a driven Smooth Rocket in mid-stretch to win by a widening length in 1:55. Phoenix Rising (Frank Milby) finished third.

Babes All In paid $2.80 to win in his sixth victory this season and 13th of his career. He now has earned $190,539.

Speed was on display late in the program as 2022 Breeders Crown winner Ammo ($2.80, Roberts) sprinted to a 1:51.1 win in the $11,000 Open 2 Pace for the meet’s second-leading trainer Michael Hall, setting a new track record for older pacing stallions and tying the overall track record. He was then outdone in the $12,000 Open 1 Handicap Pace by 5-year-old gelding Iwannabewithyou ($12.20), who broke the all-age track record by three-fifths of a second with a 1:50.3 performance, defeating Lyons Stealth and Nuttin But Finesse by seven lengths for driver Trae Porter and trainer Kevin Lare.

Racing returns to Ocean Downs on Tuesday (July 9); the 13-race program includes the first preliminary round of the Bucky Gray Jr. Memorial, a late-closing series for 2-year-old pacers. First post is 7:05 p.m.

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

From Ocean Downs