Grove City, OH – Battle Hill and Lt Loverboy will vie for Ohio Sires Stakes supremacy among sophomore male trotters as MGM Northfield Park hosts the fourth leg on Saturday (Aug. 9).
The 16-race card at Northfield includes two $65,000 divisions each of sophomore male and filly trotters in the fourth leg of the OSS as part of a big night of racing headlined by the $300,000 Grade 2 Carl Milstein Memorial, the $100,000 Tom Aldrich President’s Trot, and the $100,000 Myron Charna President’s Pace. There will also be two $65,000 divisions of freshman filly pacers and three $50,000 divisions of freshman male pacers in their third leg of the OSS.
Battle Hill and Lt Loverboy lead the way with two wins each through three legs of the OSS for male trotters and are in the first division on Saturday along with two other top contenders in Vekna and Long Highway.
Vekna is the early 2-1 favorite and will leave from the rail with trainer Kayne Kauffman in the sulky. The Enterprise gelding has hit the board in six of seven seasonal starts with three wins. He trotted a lifetime-best 1:54 at Eldorado Scioto Downs on May 9, won his division in the first leg of the OSS at Northfield in 1:56.3, and is coming off a victory in the Ohio State Fair Stakes at Scioto in 1:54.2. He has nine wins and earnings of $152,896 in 14 lifetime starts.
Lt Loverboy (Brett Miller) is the 5-2 second choice. The Daren Harvey trainee posted wins in the second and third legs of the OSS in 1:52.4 and a lifetime-best 1:52.1, respectively, as part of three overall victories on the season. The Long Tom gelding also won the final of the James K. Hackett Memorial at Miami Valley Raceway. He has nine wins and $426,160 in earnings in 17 career starts.
Driven by trainer Sandy Beatty, Long Highway is the 3-1 third choice. The Long Tom colt has four wins in 11 seasonal starts, including a victory in the State Fair Stakes. Battle Hill (Chris Lems) is 7-2 on the morning line. Trained by Matthew Burkholder, the Marseille gelding recorded victories in the first two legs of the OSS in 1:56.3 and 1:54.4, respectively, to highlight his four seasonal wins. He has eight victories and $277,260 in earnings in 16 lifetime starts.
Jet Wings (Dexter Dunn), a winner in the third leg of the OSS, is the narrow 9-5 second choice to 8-5 morning-line favorite Scrappys Love (Dan Noble) in the second division. Trained by Chris Beaver, Scrappys Love has three wins this season. The Long Tom colt has hit the board in 15 of 18 lifetime starts with five wins and $259,370 in earnings.
After finishing as a runner-up in the second leg of the OSS, Jet Wings posted a victory in the third leg in 1:54. The What The Hill gelding is trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. He has hit the board in nine of 11 seasonal starts with four wins and five seconds and has eight victories and $166,295 in earnings in 26 lifetime starts.
In the fourth leg for sophomore filly trotters, Aunt Laura (Miller) is looking to add a third OSS victory after winning the first two legs in 1:56.3 and 1:54, respectively. Trained by Morgan Jr., she is the lone 3-year-old filly trotter with multiple OSS wins this season. The Uncle Peter filly shares 7-2 morning-line odds with Mocha Hill (Chris Page) as co-second choice behind 5-2 favorite In The End (Noble) in the first division.
Aunt Laura has four seasonal wins and earnings of $333,915 in 18 lifetime starts. In The End has hit the board in seven of eight starts this season with five wins and is trained by Anette Lorentzon. The Lionhunter filly posted a win in the third leg of the OSS in a lifetime-best 1:53.4 and has $112,450 in career earnings. Mocha Hill, who posted a win in the State Fair Stakes in a lifetime-best 1:54.3, has seven victories and $307,892 in earnings in 16 lifetime starts.
The division also includes Jailhouse Pearl (Austin Hanners), who has hit the board in eight of nine seasonal starts with three wins. The Long Tom filly is trained by Eric Nesselroad. She posted a victory in the State Fair Stakes in a lifetime-best 1:54.2 and won in the second leg of the OSS in 1:54.4. She has hit the board in 23 of 24 lifetime starts with 13 wins and $168,777 in earnings.
The second division is headlined by Mega Money (Aaron Merriman) and Dream Something (Tyler Smith), who have each won a leg of the OSS this season.
Mega Money is the early 3-2 favorite and will leave from the rail. A Chris Beaver trainee, she posted a win in the third leg of the OSS in a lifetime-best 1:53.3 and was the runner-up to Dream Something in the first leg. The Triumphant Caviar filly has six wins and $243,503 in earnings in 18 lifetime starts.
Dream Something, the 3-1 second choice, will leave from post two. The Miles Wollam trainee has hit the board in five of six starts this season with two wins. One of those wins came in the first leg of the OSS in a lifetime-best 1:53.3. The Uncle Peter filly was the runner-up to In The End in the third leg and placed third in the second leg. She has seven wins and earnings of $225,023 in 15 career starts.
Saturday’s first-race post time at MGM Northfield Park is 6 p.m. (EDT).