Scioto surface lightning fast Saturday

The track at Eldorado Scioto Downs was lightning fast Saturday (June 11). Reported by track announcer Barry Vicroy, the average mile time for the 14 race card was 1:50.3.

Heart of Chewbacca (Dan Noble) started the 89-degree evening off on fire, taking the first race in a blistering 1:48.4 and establishing himself as the new National Seasons Record leader for 3-year-old pacing colts on a five-eighths mile track.

The son of Bring on the Beach sat last (seventh) for the mile and paced a back half in :52.2, going three-wide around the entire last turn, to win by 1 1/4 lengths.

Trained by Ron Burke, Heart of Chewbacca is owned by Dennis Owens and Norman Rae Racing LLC. He has earned over $80,000 so far in 2021 in five starts and pushes his lifetime earnings to $276,348.

HEART OF CHEWBACCA REPLAY

Finishing second was a fast-closing Charley May (Brett Miller), who got away fourth, got shuffled back to sixth and came home in :26.2. Charley May, a son of McArdle who is trained by Steve Carter and owned by breeder Don Tiger has over $343,000 earned lifetime. Both Heart of Chewbacca and Charley May were supplemented to this year’s Meadowlands Pace.

In a rarity at Scioto, both the female and male divisions of the Open Pace were held on the same night. The $22,000 Filly & Mare Open Pace was won by Play For Pay (Kayne Kauffman), a 5-year-old by Tellitlikeitis, in 1:49.2, which was only 2/5 of a second off the track record for older pacing mares. Trained by Michael Arnold for owner Ira Steinberg, the mare lowered her own personal best by nearly two full seconds. Play for Pay now has just over $316,000 in lifetime earnings.

The Horse & Gelding Open Pace was won by Voracity (Noble) in 1:49. The 8-year-old son of Sportswriter is owned by James Morris and Norman Rae Racing LLC. Trained by Christi Noble, the mile also lowered his lifetime best while pushing lifetime earnings to over $733,000.

Racing continues at Scioto on Tuesday (June 15) at 6:15 p.m. There are multiple carryovers for the evening card; free program pages are available on the Scioto Downs website<www.sciotodowns.com/racing/race-programs> for each and every race card, including qualifiers.

For full race results, click here.

From MGM Scioto Downs