by Jay Wolf, assistant publicity director, the Little Brown Jug

Delaware, OH — The 2-year-old gelding trotter Count Me In equaled the track record of 1:58 in winning a $20,822 Ohio Breeders Championship division in Tuesday (September 20) action at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Driver Dan Noble drove seven winners, including a sweep of the OBC for freshman trotting fillies.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Count Me In equaled the track mark for a freshman trotting gelding in winning his OBC split on Tuesday.

Sam Noble III guided the son of Full Count-Howl around a breaking Carolina Carl at the start and sat fifth during the :28.2 first quarter. Count Me In was forced to go three-wide at the half in :58.2 and cleared the lead before the three-quarters in 1:27.4. A :30.1 last quarter secured the 8-3/4 length victory in 1:58, equaling the mark set by Uncle Vernon in 2003.

Count Me In is owned by Patricia J. Wollam and Acadia Farms, Inc. and is conditioned by Marty Wollam.

In the second division, It’s Jesse Time (Kayne Kauffman) scored a mild upset in 1:58.3. The freshman son of Jailhouse Jesse-Bueno Sahbra scored a 2-3/4 length victory over Rock N Jesse (Ray Paver) and Al Brown (Alfred Manke III).

It’s Jesse Time is trained by Jerry Lighthill for Charles W. Miller.

Dan Noble swept the Ohio Breeders Championship for 2-year-old trotting fillies by picking up wins with Jessica Rayne and Lady At Bat.

In the first division, Jessica Rayne scored a half-length victory over U R Toast (Ed Greeno Jr.) in 2:05.

The daughter of Jailhouse Jesse-Amber Rayne won for the sixth time in nine seasonal starts for C. Ed Mullinax and Matthew A. Toler and trainer Virgil Morgan Jr.

In the second $17,722 division, Lady At Bat fought off a late challenge by TT’s Taterchip (Sam Noble III) to win by 2-1/4 lengths in 2:02 1/5.

Lady At Bat, by Full Count-One Cool Lady, is owned by G & B Racing and conditioned by Marty Wollam, who has won four OBC events this week.

Cinder Angelina (Ryan Stahl) won the $8,500 Delaware Open for 3-year-old filly pacers in 1:57.2. The sophomore daughter of American Ideal-Cinder Best is owned by Mark D. Williams and Ron A. Hibbard and trained by Steve Carter.