Grove City, OH – Three of the four $20,000 divisions of the fourth leg of the Buckeye Stallion Series for sophomore filly pacers featured repeat winners Sunday (Aug. 17) at MGM Northfield Park.
Catch The Fire fillies Survivin Fire and Guard The Fire each scored their second BSS wins of the season as did Well Said filly Anna Loves Bananas. Queen Of Fear, a Fear The Dragon filly, won the remaining division for her first BSS win of the year.
Anna Loves Bananas (Aaron Merriman) posted the fastest time among the four BSS races, winning the third division by a neck over Rylee Too (Brett Miller) in 1:53.2. Legendary L (Hank LeVan) was third. Anna Loves Bananas, who won a division in the third leg at Eldorado Scioto Downs in 1:52.4, left from the rail and took the lead from Rylee Too just past the :27.2 quarter. The Scott Betts trainee led the rest of the way, posting fractions of :56.2 and 1:25.1 before holding off a late charge from Rylee Too on the outside and Legendary L in the passing lane. Anna Loves Bananas has hit the board in eight of 15 seasonal starts with five wins. She has six victories and $94,020 in earnings in 24 lifetime starts and is owned by Timothy Betts.
Guard The Fire (Cameron McCown) won the fourth division in 1:54.4. The Brian Brown trainee led wire to wire, posting fractions of :28.3, :58.3, and 1:26.3 en route to winning by 2-3/4 lengths over second-leg winner Judge Me Again (Trevor Smith) in second place. Racin Like A Star (Justin Irvine) was third. Guard The Fire won a division of the opening leg of the BSS at Northfield in 1:55.2 in her only other victory this season. She also has two seconds and two thirds in 10 seasonal starts. She has five wins in 20 career starts and is owned by Hutchison Harness LLC.
Survivin Fire (Dan Noble) took the second division in gate-to-wire fashion in 1:55. The Michael Hitchcock trainee recorded fractions of :28.4, :58.2, and 1:27 and won by 2-1/2 lengths over Maddie’s Delite (Merriman) with Four Carat Rock (Tyler Smith) in third. Survivin Fire’s prior BSS win came in the second leg at Scioto in a lifetime-best 1:52.1. Maddie’s Delite and Four Carat Rock each posted a victory in the first leg. Survivin Fire has hit the board in 14 of 17 starts this season with 10 wins. She has 13 career victories and $84,701 in earnings in 26 starts and is owned by William Hartt.
In the first division, Queen Of Fear (Kurt Sugg) rallied from fourth place at the halfway mark to win by a head over Our Honor Defend (Case Bateson) as both horses crossed the line in 1:53.3. Queen Of Fear left from post five and settled into fourth place as Odds On Collateral (Merriman) led the field past the first two calls in :26.4 and :56.2, respectively. Sugg then took Queen Of Fear first-over and into the lead going to the 1:24.4 three-quarters. The even-money favorite led Our Honor Defend by two lengths entering the final stretch as the duo created a large gap between themselves and the rest of the seven-horse field. Our Honor Defend put together a strong challenge on the outside down the stretch, but Queen Of Fear held on to win the photo finish. Third-place Playonplayer was more than 13 lengths back. Queen Of Fear has hit the board in five of seven seasonal starts with four wins and one second. She has five career wins and $184,950 in earnings in 16 lifetime starts and is owned by Ashley Dunn and trainer Edward Miller.
Sunday’s 15-race card at Northfield also included a $20,500 Open Handicap trot and $20,500 Open Handicap pace. Rose Run Zoom (Noble) won the trot by a nose over Get In And Go (Sugg) in 1:56.1. The extremely close race saw all seven horses finish within three-fifths of a second of each other. Rose Run Zoom is trained by Cory Kreiser. The 4-year-old Uncle Peter gelding has 20 wins and earnings of $329,585 in 62 lifetime starts. In the Open pace, Sure Thing Captain (Merriman) finished second but was placed first, posting a time of 1:54.
The 2025 Buckeye Stallion Series for sophomore filly pacers continues with the fifth leg on Sept. 18 at Delaware.
Racing returns to MGM Northfield Park on Monday (Aug. 18) with a 15-race card starting at 6 p.m. (EDT).