Grove City, OH — The first leg of the Ohio Triple Crown concludes Friday and Saturday (Aug. 1-2) with a combined 12 Ohio State Fair Stakes races at Eldorado Scioto Downs.
On Friday, there will be two divisions each of 3-year-old filly pacers and trotters and 2-year-old filly pacers as part of a 16-race card. Each division of sophomore filly trotters will go for $72,000, and each division of sophomore filly pacers will go for $71,000. The first division of freshman filly pacers will go for $80,650, and the second division will go for $81,350.
Saturday’s 16-race card features three divisions of 2-year-old colt pacers, two divisions of 3-year-old colt trotters, and one division of 3-year-old colt pacers. Each division of sophomore colt trotters will go for $72,000, and the one division of sophomore colt pacers will go for $145,000. The first division of freshman colt pacers will go for $56,500, while the other two divisions will go for $57,200 each.
Both cards have a first-race post time of 5:45 p.m.
The first division of 3-year-old filly pacers kicks off Friday’s Ohio State Fair Stakes races. Odds On Hialeah (Dan Noble), who has two wins and a runner-up finish in the Ohio Sires Stakes this year, is the early even-money favorite. The Lather Up filly has not raced outside of the OSS this season and posted a lifetime best 1:50.3 in winning the opening leg. The Virgil Morgan Jr. trainee has hit the board in all 11 career starts with nine wins and two seconds to go with $406,000 in earnings. Prolific Fire (Austin Hanners) is the 5-2 second choice. She posted a win in the second leg of the Buckeye Stallion Series and a runner-up finish in the third leg of the OSS this season. My Hare Legend (Aaron Merriman), who has hit the board in six of eight seasonal starts, including a win in the third leg of the BSS, is the 3-1 third choice.
Another Morgan trainee, Odds On Chesapeake (Noble), leads the second division of sophomore filly pacers as the 9-5 morning line favorite. The Downbytheseaside filly has won each of the first three legs of the OSS as part of five total victories in six starts this season. Her lifetime best of 1:50 came in the second leg of the OSS, and she has nine wins and $282,200 in earnings in 16 career starts. Bubblles Out (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), a three-time winner in the BSS this year, is the 5-2 second choice. She has seven wins in 10 starts in 2025.
In The End (Noble) opened as the 5-2 favorite in the first division of sophomore filly trotters and will leave from the far outside. Trained by Anette Lorentzon, the Lionhunter filly has five wins and one second in seven seasonal starts. She has won two legs of the BSS and posted a victory in the third leg of the OSS in a lifetime best 1:53.4. Leaving next to In The End is Pelican Hanover (Kurt Sugg), who shares 7-2 odds with Jailhouse Pearl (Austin Hanners) for co-second choice. Pelican Hanover is a two-time BSS winner this season with four total victories in eight starts. Jailhouse Pearl has hit the board in seven of eight starts this year with two wins, including one in the second leg of the OSS. Brink Street (Chris Page) and Youthful Kemp (Braiden Rhoades), both second-leg winners in the BSS, are also in this division.
The second division of sophomore filly trotters is headlined by 9-5 morning line favorite Mega Money (Merriman), who will leave from the far outside. The Chris Beaver trainee has five wins and two seconds in eight starts this season. The Triumphant Caviar filly posted a win in the third leg of the OSS in a lifetime best 1:53.3 and has career earnings of $237,743. Dream Something (Tyler Smith) is the 4-1 second choice. She has two wins this season, including in the opening leg of the OSS. This division also includes Aunt Laura (Brett Miller), who is a two-time winner in the OSS this year, and one-leg BSS winners Long Armof Justice (Trevor Smith), Up (Chris Lems), and Wild As You (Noble).
Shacarri (Page) opens as the narrow 3-2 favorite in the first division of freshman filly pacers over 8-5 second choice Seaside Shuffle (Wrenn). In her first career start, Shacarri equaled the Scioto Downs track record for 2-year-old filly pacers, tripping the wire in 1:51.1 in her lone victory of the season. The Summa Cum Laude filly and Ron Burke trainee will leave from the rail. Seaside Shuffle is another Burke trainee. The Downbytheseaside filly is 3-for-3 in 2025, including wins in each of the first two legs of the OSS.
Driven by trainer Mike Micallef, Deep Satin is the narrow morning line favorite in the second division of 2-year-old filly pacers. The Downbytheseaside filly has finished as the runner up in both of her starts this season. This division also includes one-leg BSS winners Beach Babe Hanover (Lems), Lil Keisha (Page), and Madetorockette (Miller).
The $145,000 division of sophomore colt pacers highlights Saturday’s card. Swingtown (Wrenn) is the narrow morning-line favorite in the 11-horse field over 3-1 second choice Rick Wink (Page), who will leave from the rail. Swingtown has hit the board in five of seven seasonal starts with three wins, including one in the third leg of the OSS. Trained by Burke, the Downbytheseaside colt is coming off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Delvin Miller Adios at The Meadows and was sixth in the Grade 1 North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park earlier this year. He has nine wins and $643,484 in earnings in 18 career starts. Another Burke trainee, Rick Wink is a three-time OSS winner with four total victories in six starts this season. The Bit Of A Legend N colt was fifth in the Adios and has 12 wins and earnings of $405,500 in 15 career starts. Two-time BSS winner Johnny Up (Tyler Smith) and one-leg BSS winners House Of Brix (Trevor Smith), Ohohoh Im On Fire (Austin Hanners), and Seaside Star (Luke Hanners) are also in the loaded field.
In the first division of sophomore colt trotters, Scrappys Love (Noble) will leave from the far outside as the 3-2 morning line favorite. Trained by Beaver, the Long Tom colt has hit the board in six of seven seasonal starts with three wins. He has earnings of $250,730 in 17 career starts. Battle Hill (Lems) is the 5-2 second choice and will leave from the rail. The Matthew Burkholder trainee is a two-time winner in the OSS as part of four total victories on the year. Vandy Lane (Miller), whose three wins this season include one in the BSS, is also in this division.
Jet Wings (Merriman) and LT Loverboy (Miller) will leave side by side from posts three and four as the 8-5 morning line favorite and 9-5 second choice, respectively. The Morgan Jr.-trained Jet Wings is a What The Hill gelding with four wins and four seconds in 10 seasonal starts. He has won a leg in both the OSS and BSS this year and has $148,295 in earnings in 25 career starts. LT Loverboy is a two-time winner in the OSS this season, posting a lifetime best of 1:52.1 in the third leg. The Daren Harvey trainee has hit the board in all 16 lifetime starts with nine wins, four seconds, and three thirds and has $426,160 in earnings. Vekna, a winner in the first leg of the OSS, will leave from the rail with trainer Kayne Kauffman in the sulky. First-leg BSS winner Born To Trot (Noble) will leave from the far outside.
The second division leads the lineup of freshman colt paces as it features a pair of winners from the opening leg of the OSS in Lindy Dragonwater (Page) and Swelce (Mike Wilder). Swelce will leave from the far outside as the narrow 5-2 morning line favorite over 3-1 second choice Lindy Dragonwater. The Jeff Nisonger-trained Swelce is a Summa Cum Laude gelding with two wins and two seconds in four seasonal starts, and his OSS win came in a lifetime-best 1:55. Lindy Dragonwater is a Downbytheseaside gelding and Burke trainee with a lifetime best of 1:54.2, which came in the OSS.
The third division of 2-year-old colt pacers includes a pair of one-leg BSS winners in Odds On Sugar (Merriman) and Catch My Dragon (Trevor Smith). Odds On Sugar, a Downbytheseaside colt and Morgan Jr. trainee, is the 2-1 morning line favorite over 3-1 second choice Crocodile Station (Wrenn Jr.). Odds On Sugar won his BSS race in a lifetime-best 1:52.1. Catch My Dragon opened with 8-1 odds and has a lifetime best of 1:55, which came in his BSS victory.
In the first division, Sparks N Fire (Austin Hanners) opened as the 5-2 favorite over 7-2 second choice Pet Project (Trevor Smith). A Catch The Fire colt trained by Todd Luther, Sparks N Fire has one second and one third in two starts this season. The Kimberly Dailey-trained Pet Project has hit the board in one of two seasonal starts, placing third.
The Ohio State Fair Stakes races serve as the first leg of the Ohio Triple Crown. The final two legs — the Ohio Breeders Championship at the Delaware County Fair and the Ohio Sires Stakes Scarlet Championships at Dayton Raceway — will be contested in September.