Shards Halo N cops mares open; Herb Coven Jr., Memorial Finalists decided at Miami Valley

Lebanon, OH – Shards Halo N (Trace Tetrick) became the latest “newbie” to win the weekly featured $22,500 Open Mares Pace at Miami Valley on Friday night (March 5). The ten-year-old New Zealand bred daughter of American Ideal, at least three years older than all of her nine adversaries, scored in 1:51.4 over Play For Pay (Kayne Kauffman) and Talkaboutaqueen (Brett Miller).

Shards Halo N holds off Play For Pay and Talkaboutaqueen to win Miami Valley’s $22,500 Mares Open Pace in 1:51.4. Conrad photo.

The mild favorite was making just her seventh start since the beginning of 2020, but increased her lifetime win total to 24 and raised her career bounty to $176,018. Shards Halo N, owned by trainer Tyler George and Scott George, was the fifth different winner of the top distaff race at Miami Valley in recent weeks.

Play For Pay put up all the fractions (:26.4, :55.4 and 1:23.2) before Tetrick and Shards Halo N swept to the front midway down the stretch during the :28.2 final panel.

Favorites won both divisions of the final preliminary leg of the Herb Coven Jr. Memorial Series for non-winners of four pacing mares, setting the stage for next week’s $25,000 championship showdown.

Keystone Eureka (Tetrick, 1:53.3, $2.20) was a handy winner over Better Days Ahead (Mitch Cushing) and My Lady Dude (Josh Sutton) in the first split. Coupled with a second place finish in the first leg, the four-year-old daughter of Somebeachsomewhere will be highly regarded when the finalists answer the call to post. Ryan Miller trains the winner for the Miller Racing Stable, Inc.

Coconut Beach was an easy winner in Herb Coven Jr. Memorial Series action. Conrad photo.

Coconut Beach (Tyler Smith, 1:52.2, $4.80) extended her win streak to three by topping Ellagator (Miller) and Anthem (Cushing). Jeff Brewer owns and trains the four-year-old daughter of Art Major who is also likely to attract the attention of a multitude of handicappers working next Friday’s (March 12) series finale.

The nine mares who will comprise the Coven Memorial final field are: Coconut Beach, Keystone Eureka, Anthem, Real Rockin Ravi, Better Days Ahead, Ellagator, Smoknthemnbluejeans, Sara Jane and Harper.

Racing resumes Saturday (March 6) at Miami Valley with a 4:05 p.m. post time. Two open paces and four divisions of the final preliminary leg of the George Williams Memorial Series will be featured.

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