by Miami Valley Raceway

Lebanon, OH — Sectionline Bigry continued his winning ways Saturday night (April 21) at Miami Valley by capturing the $40,000 James K. Hackett Memorial championship for sophomore Ohio-sired pacing colts in a quick 1:51.1. The son of Pet Rock has now triumphed in four of his first five seasonal starts following a freshman campaign in which he won just one of 10 while earning $41,479.

Conrad photo

Sectionline Bigry collected his fourth win from five seasonal starts in the Hackett Memorial championship.

“He had some bad posts, some bad luck and minor sickness problems that plagued him last year,” said trainer Steve Bauder. “But he has filled out nicely while turned out and been razor sharp since we brought him back in. There’s obviously going to be a lot of real nice Ohio 3-year-olds this year, but he is the sixth good horse his dam (Aquatic Yankee) has produced so he has a pedigree to continue improving.”

With the win, Sectionline Bigry got an automatic invitation to next Saturday’s $50,000 Scarlet & Gray Invitational at Miami Valley, then he plans to return for the first leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes series at MVG on Sunday (May 6).

Runner-up Bounding Dragon (Josh Sutton) and show finisher Dragonology (Chris Page) are expected to follow a similar path. Rockathon (Dan Noble), last year’s O.S.S. runnerup who made an unfortunate break in stride during his Hackett elimination, recovered nicely on Saturday night as well, winning a conditioned race in 1:51.4 and could be Scarlet & Gray bound.

Bauder trains the Hackett champion for his uncle and cousin, Harold Lee and Harold L. Bauder.

A $23,000 Open I Pace on the same program produced a major upset when My Buddy Ninkster (Josh Sutton) topped odds-on favorite My Hero Ron (Tyler Smith) in 1:50.2. Bob Phillips, who recorded his 1,000th training win since 1996 (when the USTA began keeping trainer statistics) on Friday at MVG, conditions the 6-year-old son of Dali for John Jr. and Mary Krasnican. Nuclear Dragon (Chris Page) made his first jump into Open company a creditable one with a third place finish.

The $20,000 Open II Pace went to Escape The News (Tyler Smith), who topped Totally Kissed (Peter Wrenn) and Dalhousie Dave (Kyle Ater) in 1:50. Tyler George trains the 9-year-old winner for Clifford Grundy. The son of Artiscape is approaching $900,000 in career earnings.