Lebanon, OH — Miami Valley Raceway is introducing a new $100,000 FFA by invitation, to be called the Pacey “The Wizard” Mindlin Memorial, to be contested on closing weekend May 5-6.

Owners or trainers of horses that would like to be considered are asked to contact race secretary Gregg Keidel at 513.934.7336.

Pacey “The Wizard” Mindlin will be remembered with a new $100,000 race, the ‘Pace Baby Pace’ at Miami Valley. Provided photo.

Mr. Mindlin, who passed away last month at age 81, was a racing fan his entire life. A prominent owner, pedigree expert and ultimately Miami Valley’s on-air handicapper, Mr. Mindlin was recently described this way: “No one loved horse racing more than Pacey, and no one loved Ohio harness racing more than Pacey.”

The $100,000 race is tentatively scheduled for Saturday (May 6), sharing the spotlight with the first legs of all four Ohio Sires Stakes divisions for 3-year-old pacers and trotters. In the event 14 or more OSS divisions are necessary, the race could be moved to Friday (May 5).

Let It Ride N, who won the $36,000 Open Handicap at Miami Valley for his fifth straight time over six weeks on Sunday (April 16) is the current favorite — although a strong contingent of challengers is expected.

Let It Ride N (Dan Noble) topped longshots Velocity Poprocks (Austin Hanners) and Incredible Man (Jeremy Smith), stablemates from the Steve Carter barn, in 1:50.

It’s possible that another Mindlin Memorial candidate will emerge this week as Let It Ride N, a 10-year-old trained by Michael Hitchcock, will be required to take a week off following three straight weekly victories.