Dayton, OH — The curtain has fallen on Dayton Raceway’s 10th racing season with records all around. Five track records were tied or broken, a repeat driving champion was crowned, the all-time single day handle record was set, and 2023 saw an increase in total handle for the fifth straight year.

Starting off with new track records, the track crew, led by superintendent Jim Shelton, had the racing surface extremely sharp all year, and it didn’t take long into the meet to start setting new marks as the first three fell on Dayton Derby night. Tattoo Artist set a new mark for older male pacers at 1:48 while winning the Dayton Pacing Derby, and Hillexotic set a new mark for older trotting geldings by winning the Dayton Trotting Derby in 1:51.1. In the Buckeye Stallion Series final for filly trotters, Justasiam As shattered the old mark in crossing the line in 1:54.4. In December, Art Scaping tied the older pacing gelding mark of 1:49 and Dover In Motion tied the 4-year-old trotting gelding mark of 1:52.1.

Jeremy Smith picked up where he left off, defending his driving title in 2022 by repeating in 2023. Smith, who was sidelined the first five weeks of the meet while recovering from surgery, spotted his rivals nearly 150 starts. On Dec. 7, he still trailed by 14 wins, but by Dec. 29, he had clinched the title being 22 wins ahead at that time. He won at nearly a 30 percent clip in December to accomplish that feat. He finished the meet with 143 wins, 25 clear of runner-up Dan Noble.

Jeremy Smith (center) won the 2023 driving championship at Dayton Raceway. Conrad Photo.

On the training side of things, Ron Burke finished out the meet with 37 wins to edge out last years training champion, Jason Brewer, by just two wins. It’s the second title for the Burke barn in the last three years. Burke’s $713,455 in earnings also topped the meet.

Handle at the track saw an increase for the fifth straight year. In 2018, all source handle checked in at $18.3 million. This year, a new record of $33.5 million was achieved, for an increase of 83 percent over 2018 and 9.4 percent over 2022. Dayton also saw a single-night record fall, when $1.286 million was handled on Dec. 28, just one year after the previous mark of $1.272 million was set.