Columbus, OH — The 2024 opening weekend at Eldorado Scioto Downs has come to a close. The cool night air during all three race cards may have hampered the fans on the patio, but inside establishments were full, especially Saturday night with a sold-out clubhouse.

Carbine went gate-to-wire to win by a neck over Little Rocket Man. Conrad photo.

The $27,000 Open Pace on Saturday (May 11) saw the first sub-1:50 mile of the season when Carbine (Austin Hanners) went gate-to-wire to win by a neck over Little Rocket Man (Jeremy Smith) in 1:49.2. Little Rocket Man got away fourth and pressured Carbine for the last quarter-mile, posting a :26.4 last quarter but fell just short of the win.

Carbine, a 6-year-old by Somebeachsomewhere who is trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. and owned by Odds On Racing, is doing double-duty this spring as he is both breeding and racing. He has now won eight of 14 on the year with $171,395 earned, which pushes his lifetime earnings to $478,719.

Statistically, Scioto is starting out stronger than it has ever been:

Handle: the first three nights, handle is up 47.6 percent over 2023 and 78.34 percent over 2022.
Entry box: the box for opening week has been flooded with entries — 1,281 to be exact. With 16 races carded each day, 457 horses raced opening weekend with another 319 in-to-go Tuesday and Wednesday.
Winning margins: of the 48 races carded over the first three days, 29 of them had blanket finishes with the winning margin being a length or less.
Percentage of winning favorites: 37.5 percent (18 of 48)

Scioto’s 29-time leading trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. had six wins to take the early leading trainer spot with Herman Hagerman and Ron Burke tied for second with three wins each on opening weekend. Jeremy Smith has 10 wins through the first three cards with Chris Page sitting second with seven.

Also on Saturday, the drawing for the nine slots for the Next Generation 2-year-old colt pace was held after the sixth race. Thirteen entries were received by the April 15 deadline, with each nominator paying $8,000. Winning entrants are: Tom Ceraso, Dark Horse Farm, Jeff Fought Racing, Lionel Construction, Greg Luther, Odds On Racing, Dennis Owens, TheStable.ca and Mark Weaver. The four nominators who did not receive a slot will have their nomination returned.

For the other Next Generation divisions, the 2-year-old filly trot was fully subscribed with nine nominations and is considered closed after the April 15 deadline. There are still openings for the 2-year-old filly pace and 2-year-old colt trot, of which $10,000 nominations can be made if postmarked by May 15. Full conditions for the Next Generation, which will be raced on Saturday (July 6) are available on the USTA website.

Racing continues at Scioto Downs on Tuesday (May 14) with a 5:45 p.m. post. There are 16 races on the card with a small carryover for the early Pick-3, starting in race two. More information about racing at Scioto can be found on the Eldorado Scioto Downs website.