Lebanon, OH — Granite, the ultra-consistent 7-year-old son of Real Desire, paced the fastest mile of the meet thus far winning the $30,000 Open Handicap Pace on Saturday (Jan. 4) at Miami Valley Raceway in 1:52.4.

Granite holds off Lifewithjohn to capture the $30,000 Open at Miami Valley on Saturday. Conrad photo.

The Ken Rucker trainee won seven races and finished in the money on 24 of 35 occasions in 2019, banking $150,365 for The Panhellenic Stable. Lifetime, Granite now has 28 victories from 126 starts and $522,775 in bounty.

Winning driver Jeremy Smith took full advantage of a pocket ride throughout the mile, following favored I’m A Big Deal (Brett Miller) through fractions of :26.4, :55.4 and 1:24.1. When first-over challenger Fan Of Terror (John DeLong)—who was assigned the outside post following two straight Open triumphs at Hollywood Dayton—faded slightly just after entering the stretch Granite pounced on the leader and then held off a furious late charge from runner up Lifewithjohn (Ricky Macomber Jr.) to secure the victory. My Hero Ron (Tyler Smith) also had late pace to finish third, while Fan Of Terror, I’m A Big Deal and Tyd Theglyde (Trace Tetrick) also picked up checks in the ten horse field.

Granite paid $16.40 to win, the exacta returned $147.20 and the 50-cent trifecta kicked back a healthy $265.35.
Jeremy Smith fashioned a Grand Slam on the first dozen races. In addition to his feature race win with Granite, his tallies came behind trotter Doctor Blizzard (1:58.2, $42.20) for trainer Mike Polhamus, A True Rock Star (1:55, $34.20) for trainer Aaron Hamilton and Monte Cristo (1:54.1, $7.00) for trainer Mike Arnold.

Miami Valley will present the first of three consecutive matinee programs on Sunday (Jan. 5) afternoon. Post time on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday is 2:05 p.m.