from Hollywood Dayton Raceway

Dayton, OH — Safe From Terror and Another Breath shared the Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway spotlight on Friday (Oct. 19) by copping the co-featured open events.

Conrad photo

By the narrowest of margins, Safe From Terror edged American Girl in Dayton’s Mares Open Pace for her 56th lifetime win.

Heavily-favored Safe From Terror (Aaron Merriman, $3.20), a 6-year-old daughter of Western Terror who became a millionaire in July, outdueled a stubborn pacesetting American Girl (Dan Noble) by a nose in a 1:53.2 mile over a damp track. Gone Girl (Kayne Kauffman) used a ground-saving trip and a nice closing kick to finish a close-up third in the $16,500 Mares Open.

American Girl cut out fractions of :27.1, :56.3 and 1:24.4 before closing in :28.3 — only to be caught in the final stride by Safe From Terror, who raced first-up on the outside the entire final lap.

Owned by Big Bad DT Racing Stable and trained by Mike Conklin, Safe From Terror now sports 56 wins in 136 trips to the post, good for earnings of $1,030,401.

Another Breath (Dan Noble) charged out of the seven slot behind the starting car to gain command early and play catch-me-if-you-can with the full field in the $18,500 Open Trot.

After posting fractional times of :27.4, :56.4 and 1:25.1, Another Breath had just enough left in the tank to hold off Pine Dream (Kayne Kauffman) and Optimist Blue Chip (Jeremy Smith) in 1:55.2.

The winning 5-year-old gelded son of Lou’s Legacy, who paid $12 to win, has now captured 16 of his 82 career starts and produced a bankroll of $337,890. It was the fourth win on the evening for driver Dan Noble, who also trains Another Breath for owner Richard Mishkin.

Racing resumes at Hollywood Dayton on Saturday night with a 6:15 p.m. post time.