Lebanon, OH — Little Rocket Man held off the entire field in the stretch and picked up his 81st career victory by taking the $36,000 featured Open Handicap at Miami Valley (Feb. 15).
Jeremy Smith and Little Rocket Man floated out from post three allowing Cadillac Bayama and Chris Page to cross over for the lead before pressing on to lead the field past the opening quarter in a spirited :26.3. Little Rocket Man continued to show the way as Alta Revelry N pulled from third and pressed first over past the half in :55.
As they headed down the backside, Alta Revelry N showed his straight line speed and pulled ahead by almost a length near the three quarters (1:22.4). He couldn’t quite clear, and then had a little trouble navigating the final turn as his length advantage began to disappear. Little Rocket Man reeled him back in to draw even while at the same time Humble A had flipped three-wide to challenge.
As they turned for home, Little Rocket man had retaken the lead but was now under attack from all angles as the entire field closed in. In deep stretch, Little Rocket Man was able to hang on by a nose to beat pocket sitting Cadillac Bayama while Alta Revelry N held third. The entire field was covered by just a length and a half in a highly competitive Open.
For Little Rocket Man, it was his 111th top-three finish in 147 lifetime starts with his lifetime earnings just a few starts away from crossing the $2 million barrier. The 10-year-old shows no signs of slowing down as he’s fresh off a 2025 campaign that saw him win 11 times in 23 starts and amass just over a quarter-million in earnings. For trainer Ken Rucker, it was his second tally on the card, as he also won with Howard Hughes N in the second race.
Jeremy Smith led all drivers with a hat trick, while Trace Tetrick had a driving double.
Unfortunately, some intense, very thick fog quickly rolled in over the track before the 13th race forcing the cancellation of the last two races. Visibility was reduced to zero and it was deemed unsafe to continue.
Racing action returns Monday evening (Feb. 16) with a post time of 4 p.m. EST.