Lebanon, OH – After a winless month of January, Fan Of Terror (John DeLong) returned to his winning ways on Saturday night (Feb. 8) at Miami Valley Raceway.  The 8-year-old Western Terror gelding, whose 18 victories in 2019 fell just one short of being the most in the country, captured the $25,000 Open Pace in 1:52 despite being saddled with a second tier start in the full field of 10 of the Midwest’s finest older horses.

Fan Of Terror (#10) holds off Beyond Delight to capture Miami Valley’s $25,000 Open on Saturday. Conrad Photo.

DeLong got Fan Of Terror away fifth during the :26.4 first quarter and remained there until the halfway point in the mile was reached in :55.  Swinging three wide down the backside and around the final turn, the winner was able to move up to third when the three quarters timer flashed 1:23.1.  Fan Of Terror proved strongest during the stretch drive when a cavalry of closers came calling from near the rear of the field.  An 18-1 longshot, Beyond Delight (Chris Page) ,came closest to catching the winner finishing second by a neck while 5-2 I’m A Big Deal (Brett Miller), another neck back, got the show dough.

Fan Of Terror, owned by Therl Hensley and trained by Peter Redder, paid $13.40 to win.  Coupled with Beyond Delight, the exacta payoff was a hefty $254.60.  The 50-cent trifecta return was $476.45.

Three divisions of the first leg of the Bill Dailey Memorial Medley late closer were also contested on the program.  The series began with the contestants squaring off in a trio of $12,500 five-eighths mile dashes.  Week two next Saturday (Feb. 15) will feature one mile races for $17,500 purses; while the $25,000 championship will be decided over a mile and a quarter distance.

First leg winners were American Dreamer (Kayne Kauffman, 1:09.1, $4.80), Lifeonthebeach A (Chris Page, 1:08.3, $2.40) and Dave And Dennis (Sam Widger, 1:09.2, $7).

The Dailey Memorial Medley honors the memory of James “Bill” Dailey, one of the finest conditioners of young horses in Ohio’s storied harness racing history.  Dailey won seven of the eight divisional Ohio Sires Stakes championships offered for 2 and 3 year old Buckeye breds during his career and had a prime contender for the only one missing on his impressive resume at the time of his sudden and unexpected passing in 2018.