by Jay Wolf

Delaware, OH — Jesse’s Messenger the defending Ohio Horse of the Year gained some sweet revenge from Victory Is Coming by winning the $35,173 Ohio Breeders Championship for sophomore filly trotters on the opening day of the Grand Circuit meeting at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.

Ryan Stahl sent the eventual winner to the early lead forcing Victory Is Coming (Ammon Hershberger) to take the second spot at the rail. The daughter of Jailhouse Jesse led the field of nine past the quarter in :29.3 and the half in 1:00.1. Anastasia Whinnie (Kurt Sugg) was the first to challenge Jesse’s Messenger and when she failed to clear, Definitely Mamie (Dan Noble) was forced three-wide down the backstretch locking Victory Is Coming behind a wall of horses at the three-quarter pole in 1:30.3. Victory Is Coming finally shook free at the top of the lane, but ran out of time as Jesse’s Messenger scored a 1-3/4 length victory in 1:58.2 over the fast closing Victory Is Coming, who tasted defeat for only the fourth time in 16 2010 starts. Definitely Mamie held on to complete the trifecta.

Jesse’s Messenger is trained by Kent Sherman for his father Daryl Sherman of Elmore, Ohio.

Two Divisions of the OBC 2FP Contested

Longshots Crossthreaded and Our Little Filly both closed from off the pace to win divisions of the $44,474 Ohio Breeders Championship for 2-year-old filly pacers.

Crossthreaded paid $56.40 to her backers scoring in a stakes record 1:55.2 victory over Osborne’s Sweeper (Ryan Stahl) in the first division and Our Little Filly returned $22.40 to win for her upset of Cruise On Ashley (Dan Noble) in 1:56.3 in the $22,362 second division.

Crossthreaded, with Dan Noble in the sulky, scored her fourth victory of the season. The filly is trained by Jim Mulinx and owned by Mullinix and Jamie Buehrer of Wauseon, Ohio.

Our Little Filly, trained and driven by Tom Marts, Jr., exploded through the stretch for her seventh triumph of 2010. The Towner’s Big Guy lass is owned by Benjamin Ott of Luckey, Ohio.