Columbus, OH – Four divisions of the Buckeye Stallion Series for 3-year-old filly pacers were held Friday (June 21) at Eldorado Scioto Downs. Fearless Ginger was the only repeat winner in this second leg while three other winners found the winner’s circle for the first time in BSS action.

Austin Hanners guided Fearless Ginger to an easy victory in the second of four divisions of the $20,000 Buckeye Stallion Series in 1:51.2 on Friday night at Eldorado Scioto Downs. Conrad Photo.

Austin Hanners guided Fearless Ginger to an easy 3-1/2 length victory in the second division of the $20,000 Buckeye Stallion Series in 1:51.2. Leaving straight for the front from post two, the pair led at every call of :26.2, :55.3 and 1:23.1 before coasting home in :28.1. Hot Shave (Aaron Merriman) finished second with Frontier Dragon (Kayne Kauffman) getting up for third.

Fearless Ginger won the first leg of the BSS on May 1 and then posted consecutive victories in the Falcon Almahurst Series for BSS eligible horses. She now has four wins in eight starts and $42,120 earned on the year. Friday’s win was a new lifetime mark for the 3-year-old Fear The Dragon filly owned and trained by Tim Lane.

Heartofthesea also took her division in in 1:51.2. Sitting third through splits of :26.1 and :54.3 while Calypso Pearl (Dan Noble) led the way, Chris Page pulled Heartofthesea second over heading to the 1:22.1 three-quarters. Following the 6-5 favorite Illegal (Tyler Smith), Page flipped Heatofthesea three-wide in the last turn and drew off to win by four lengths over Calypso Pearl who finished second and Illegal who was third.

Heartofthesea, by Downbytheseaside, is owned by Country Club Acres, Wingfield Brothers and David Van Dusen. Brian Brown trains the filly who now has $73,460 earned lifetime and crushed her previous lifetime mark by two seconds Friday.

The other two divisions were won by Miss Betty (Hanners) and Gone Coastal (Noble), both in 1:52.1. Miss Betty, by Dancin Yankee, is owned by Harold Ward, trained by his son David Ward and was bred by Dustin Arledge. She is now two for 12 lifetime after breaking her maiden on June 12 in 1:54, with $33,800 in lifetime earnings. Miss Betty was an $8,000 purchase from the Buckeye Classic Yearling Sale. Sarah Said (Eric Goodell) was second and Gulf Moon (Merriman) third.

Gone Coastal, another Downbytheseaside filly, is owned by breeder Tim Betts and trained by his brother Scott Betts. She has hit the board in all eight of her lifetime starts, winning five of them and earning $35,731 seasonally, and lifetime, as Gone Coastal did not race at two. I’m A Beach Lady (Luke Hanners) was second and I’m Fancy Like (Merriman) got up for third.

Refined, Hungry Lizzo take opens

Refined, fresh off her trip to Canada for the Armbro Flight, came back down to Scioto in form to win the $26,000 Open Trot in 1:51.4. Sitting fourth while Joey (Page) set opening fractions of :26.4 and :55.4, Noble pulled Refined second over after Caviar Gold (Merriman) going down the backside. By the 1:23.1 three-quarters, Refined was first over as Caviar Gold found the pocket spot. Refined came home in :28.1 to win by two lengths over Forceful Power (Hugh Beatty) who had also made the trip north, with Caviar Gold finishing third. Refined, an 8-year-old mare by Uncle Peter, is owned by Joyce McClelland and Larry Wills. Friday’s win was her 40th lifetime and pushed her lifetime earnings to $1,063,872.

Hungry Lizzo, assigned post nine, got away last and came home flying to win by a half length in 1:50.3 in the $27,000 Fillies & Mares Open Pace. Aaron Merriman took Alexa Skye off the car from post eight and was parked three-wide going to the opening quarter of :26.1. Trick Of The Light (Noble) came first over by the :54.4 half with Hungry Lizzo sitting third over. After the leader tripped the beam in 1:22.2 at the three-quarters, Trevor Smith tipped Hungry Lizzo four-wide throughout the last turn and used the momentum to win over Trick of The Light. High Flyin’ Filly (Page) was third. Hungry Lizzo is trained by Deborah Swartz and owned by Bradley Delaney. The 4-year-old mare by Stay Hungry now has 10 wins and $131,510 in earnings in 18 seasonal starts.

The 90-day 2024 Eldorado Scioto Downs race meet runs through Saturday, Sept. 14. Races are held Tuesday-Saturday with a first post of 5:45 p.m. each day, except for Thursday, July 4th with a post of 3:15 p.m. and Friday, Sept. 13, which will have a 6:15 p.m. post to help accommodate horsemen attending the Ohio Selected Yearling Sale. More information about racing at Scioto can be found on the Eldorado Scioto Downs website.