from Miami Valley Raceway

Lebanon, OH — Mykindachip burst through the door he had been knocking on for the past month to capture the $20,000 Open Pace at Miami Valley Raceway on Saturday night (Feb. 13), following three straight bridesmaid finishes in the weekly feature race.

Conrad photo

Mykindachip broke a string of runner-up finishes with a 1:52.3 triumph in Saturday’s $20,000 Open at Miami Valley.

With Astreos Love, the Open winner the last two outings on the sidelines, driver Kayne Kauffman took full advantage with odds-on favored Mykindachip, leaving alertly from the two-hole to take control of the race and coasted through fractions of :27.4, :56.1 and 1:23.4 en route to the 1:52.3 score.

A nine-time winner in 2015, Mykindachip notched his 32nd career tally and enhanced his lifetime earnings to $546,467 for owner Carl Atley and trainer Jim Dailey.

Kauffman thought briefly about letting My Temudjin N (Chris Page) clear to the front just past the first quarter station, but saw another foe right behind and made the winning split second decision to continue to control the race on the front end. Despite being parked almost the entire way, My Temudjin N did hang on for a third place finish, with longshot Radar Warning (Tyler Smith) splitting rivals in the stretch to get the place money.

Finalists were determined on Saturday following three $8,000 divisions of the final preliminary leg for horses that were non-winners of $800 per start in 2015-16.

Keystone Real Deal (John DeLong) is the likely morning line favorite for the $17,000 championship next week based on back-to-back victories, including his latest 1:52.4 score. Hall Of Memories (Chris Page, 1:54.2) and Allstar Seelster (Chris Page, 1:53.3), the other divisional winners on Saturday, also advanced to the final.

Those three will be joined by other top series earners Major Blue Coat, Legal Transfer, CC Big Boy Sam, Franzo, Andy Roo, Evergreen Trigger and Verbal Assault to determine the series champion.

The Saturday claim box at Miami Valley remained busy with another 10 horses changing owners and barns for a total of $114,000. Through the first 25 nights of the 2016 meet at Miami Valley, 106 horses have been collared through the claim box.