from Hollywood Dayton Raceway

Dayton, OH — Penn, Somenicebeach and Freddyscooter won the three featured Open races during the Saturday night (Dec. 26) program at Hollywood Dayton Raceway.

Track record holder Penn (Josh Sutton) topped the Open trotters in 1:53.3 over a sloppy surface, topping Rehab Mountain (Tyler Smith) and Martz Time (John De Long) in relatively easy fashion.

After working hard to get the front from the assigned outside No. 7 post position just before the :26.3 quarter station, the 5-year-old son of Master Glide raced evenly throughout the remainder of the mile, stopping the subsequent timers in :55.4, 1:24.1 and 1:53.3 for his ninth win in 20 starts this season. His seasonal earnings end at $97,860 with his lifetime bounty increased to $211,294 for owner Barkley Counts.

Conrad photo

Somenicebeach made her first start at Hollywood Dayton a memorable one, topping Albanian Era and Sectionline Aqua in the Mares Open in 1:53.

The weekly top distaff pace went to Somenicebeach, giving meet-leading driver Josh Sutton his second feature win on the program.

In her first start at Hollywood Dayton, the 4-year-old Somebeachsomewhere lass narrowly edged Albanian Era (Dan Noble) with Sectionline Aqua (LeWayne Miller) also looming large in the stretch. The 1:53 score was the winner’s sixth in 2015 and 12th lifetime. She was claimed at Yonkers Raceway six months ago by Carl Howard and Bruce Soulsby and entrusted to trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. who laid her up for a couple months, put her on Lasix and qualified her twice before her winning pari-mutuel effort.

Freddyscooter (Tyler Smith) beat the best boys at the meet in 1:51.2, giving the 10-year-old gelding his 49th career visit to the winner’s circle and upping his earnings to $894,895, all for trainer and co-owner Steve Brannan, who also bred him, and partner Frederick Shiery.

Freddyscooter benefited from a two-hole trip behind eventual runner-up PQ Three (Jeremy Smith), who set early fractions of :26.3, :55 and 1:22.2 before begrudgingly giving way to the winner in deep stretch. E R Oliver (LeWayne Miller) closed well to finish third in the $12,000 race.

Just three nights remain in the Hollywood Dayton Raceway meet with 6:35 p.m. post times on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the coming week.