by Miami Valley Raceway
Lebanon, OH — Control Tower, a 5-year-old son of Panspacificflight, was in complete control of his trip from gate-to-wire on Saturday night (April 8) in the $27,500 championship leg of the Tom Tharps Memorial Series.
Conrad photo
Familyand friends of Control Tower’s owner Steve Sexton, are joined by thefamily of the late Tom Tharps, who was honored with a memorial series at MiamiValley on Saturday evening.
A runner-up in the George Williams Memorial Series final for non-winners of four races a month ago, Control Tower would not be denied in the Tharps, which was for non-winners of six races. Rushing to command immediately after starter Mike Woebkenberger signaled ‘liftoff’, driver/trainer Dan Noble reached the first quarter-mile marker with Control Tower in :27.1. He followed up with middle splits of :54.4 and 1:22.2 before scooting home in :28.2 to complete the winning 1:50.4 mile.
Evergreen Elite (Jason Brewer), who was favored despite the eight-hole after winning impressively in both preliminary legs, also left alertly but was forced to take the pocket ride after a parked out trip on the first turn and hung on for second, five lengths off the leader. Sossy’s King Kong (Chris Page) managed to grab the show purse money in the lucrative championship.
Stephen Sexton owns Control Tower, who now sports 11 wins in 24 lifetime starts good for $72,781. Lightly raced at ages 2 and 3, the late bloomer now has 5 wins and 9 on-the-board finishes in 11 2017 starts.
A $20,000 Open I Pace was captured by My Buddy Ninkster (Josh Sutton), who topped Gerries Sport (Peter Wrenn) and Astreo’s Love (Randy Tharps) in 1:50.4. It was the second straight win at the top level for the 5-year-old Dali gelding owned by John and Mary Krasnican and trained by Bob Phillips.
The $16,500 Open II went to Hickory Icon (Jeremy Smith), who topped Steves Legacy (Chris Page) and Account Rollover (Kayne Kauffman). Randal Smith trains the 7-year-old son of Real Desire for Jessica Smith.
A total of 15 horses went home with new owners via the claim box on Saturday night, bringing the meet total to 421 claims for just under $5.5 million. In addition, total handle on the Miami Valley signal is currently 53 percent above year-over-year comparable numbers.