Northfield, OH – LT Loverboy and Battle Hill won their respective $65,000 Ohio Sires Stakes divisions for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters on Saturday (June 7) at MGM Northfield Park.
Sires stakes champion LT Loverboy (Brett Miller) fired quickly off the wings clearing Hilltop Sonar (Chris Page) midway through the first turn.
From there, the race was just about over.
LT Loverboy set up shop on the lead past a quick opening quarter in :27.3.
He led the field in straight alignment past a :56.2 half and as the field entered the backstretch, Vekna (Kayne Kauffman) was guided to the outside to take on LT Loverboy.
At three-quarters in 1:24.4, LT Loverboy kicked clear from Hilltop Sonar and Vekna, drawing off through the stretch under confident handling from Brett Miller in 1:52.4.
Trained by Daren Harvey, and owned by Wayne Mast Jr. and Callam Racing LLC, the 3-year-old gelding by Long Tom earned his eighth career win, pushing his earnings to $388,905.
Burkholder trainee Battle Hill proved post eight wasn’t an issue as he scored a big victory in the second $65,000 division.
Oso Fast (Matt Kakaley) and Whats Shakin (Ronnie Gillespie) both left alertly and lined up into the initial turn. Scrappys Love (Dan Noble) tried to leave with them but broke in the first turn forcing Battle Hill (Chris Lems) three-wide around the turn.
Battle Hill continued that first-over march and was able to work past Oso Fast after a :28.4 first quarter.
Lems got a :29 breather in the second quarter as he began to create some separation from rivals.
Into the backstretch, Jet Wings (Brett Miller) came to the outside and would duel with Oso Fast but was never able to get to Battle Hill who drew off by 2-3/4 lengths at three-quarters in 1:26.1.
Through the stretch, Battle Hill was on cruise control, winning by two lengths in 1:54.4. Jet Wings was second, while Whats Shakin had to settle for third.
Owned by William Hart and bred by Galliers Racing, the 3-year-old gelding by Marseille now has earnings of $268,250.