Pure Chance springs upset in Hackett Memorial
April 15, 2019,Lebanon, OH — No one was surprised that a Chris Beaver trainee captured the $40,000 final of the James K. Hackett Memorial for Ohio-sired 3-year-old trotting fillies on Monday afternoon (April 15) at Miami Valley Raceway. Many, however, were shocked at which of the five Beaver fillies in the field prevailed.
![](http://ustrottingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/pure-chance-hackett-fin-250x150.jpg)
Pure Chance, one of five Chris Beaver trainees to line up in Monday’s James K. Hackett Memorial at Miami Valley Raceway, posted a 17-1 upset. Conrad Photo.
Pure Chance (Jason Thompson), off at 17-1, left with alacrity and easily made the front before letting heavily favored stablemate Bella’s Rose Power (Aaron Merriman) rush to the lead just before tripping the first quarter-mile beam in :28.4. Thompson and the daughter of Triumphant Caviar were quite content to sit in the pocket for the next half mile, through splits of :57.3 and 1:26, before finding room at the head of the stretch to squeeze out and power to a 1:55.1 score.
Well I’m Fancy (Chris Page), a 59-1 long shot from the Ron Burke stable, found a seam in deep stretch to rally for runner-up laurels while Aunt Rose (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), another Beaver trainee, was third. With odds-on favorite Bella’s Rose Power fading to fifth, mutuel payoffs soared.
Pure Chance paid $37.20 to win, the exacta returned a whopping $1,037.60, and a two-dollar trifecta ticket was worth $3,082.00.
Steve Zeehandelar is trainer Beaver’s partner on Pure Chance, whose young career has now produced three wins in 10 tries, good for $97,246 in earnings.
The state-bred sophomore trotting colts will take center stage during the Tuesday (April 16) matinee at Miami Valley, when the $40,000 Hackett Memorial final for that division will take place as race six. First race post time is 2:05 p.m.