by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Columbus, OH — Bigtown Hero knocked off several of the sport’s top older pacers to win the $200,000 Jim Ewart Memorial Pace on Saturday night (Sept. 27) at Scioto Downs.

Bolt The Duer, with Mike Wilder in the bike, jumped right onto the lead after leaving the gate for the Ewart Memorial Pace, but swiftly yielded that position to Night Pro and Ronnie Wrenn Jr. around the first turn.

Night Pro rattled off the first quarter in a torrid :25.3 and half in a swift :53.1 while being pressed by a first over Foiled Again with Matt Kakaley holding the lines.

Those two went to the three-quarter pole in 1:20.4 with Kanaris and Bolt The Duer sitting right behind with Sweet Lou and Ron Pierce making their move on the far outside, shortly before going into the final turn for home.

Conrad photo

Bigtown Hero was a 1:48.2 winner in the Jim Ewart Memorial.

Dave Palone and Bigtown Hero were trailing Sweet Lou. The 6-year-old gelding, who just defeated Dancin Yankee on Sept. 20 in a $25,000 Preferred contest at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, rallied on the outside in the stretch run to hit the wire in 1:48.2, equaling the Scioto Downs track record.

Kanaris (Aaron Merriman) paced a huge mile to finish second at 25-1 odds, with Night Pro gamely holding on for third at 11-1. Both Sweet Lou and Foiled Again faded in the stretch drive, with Sweet Lou finishing fifth, 3-1/2 lengths behind the winner, and Foiled Again fading to eighth and last.

Conditioned by Ron Steck for Allard Racing and Yves Sarrazin, the son of American Ideal out of the Artsplace mare Art Account, was sent off in this event, the 13th race on the card, at odds of 6-1 with Sweet Lou and Foiled Again going off at 3-5 and 5-2, respectively.

Purchased on August 4 from Trevor Stafford, Bigtown Hero has compiled a record of 6-4-1-0 since the barn switch and has now earned more than $200,000 this season when he previously banked roughly $50,000 from 46 starts in his three-year career. His resume now stands at 74-25-7-4 with this paycheck being by far the largest he has ever collected and it appeared he was prepared to pace another mile on his way to the winner’s circle.

Although Dave Palone had not previously steered Bigtown Hero, he said he knew when he was around the final turn that the result of the race was never in doubt.

“I only decided a few minutes before the race what I was going to do,” the sport’s all-time winningest driver said. “I thought I would just follow Sweet Lou because he would be sure to put me in the position that I wanted to be in. So that’s what we did nearly all around the track and then when I pulled the plugs on him and saw Sweet Lou fading, I knew that was it. We had the race won.”