Grove City, OH – The Champaign County Fair in Urbana, Ohio, hosted the third leg of the Buckeye Stallion Series for freshman pacers on Monday (Aug. 4). The 11-race card featured six $20,000 divisions of freshman male pacers and five $20,000 divisions of freshman filly pacers. Four of the boys recorded their second BSS victories of the season.
First-leg winners Odds On Rpj and Hunka Hunka and second-leg winners Wagon Day and Stoke The Fire added a second BSS victory to their ledgers.
Hunka Hunka (Brett Miller) posted the fastest time of the night among male pacers, winning the fourth division in 1:55.4. The Daren Harvey trainee and Catch The Fire colt has three wins in four starts this season.
Dan Noble drove Stoke The Fire and Odds On Rpj to victory in their respective divisions.
Stoke The Fire won the first division by five lengths in 1:56. Trained by Scott Cox, the Catch The Fire gelding has hit the board in three of four seasonal starts with two victories.
Odds On Rpj took the second division, edging Ultimate Catch by a neck as both horses tripped the timer in 1:57.1. The Downbytheseaside gelding is trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. He has two wins and one third in three starts this season.
Wagon Day scored his second victory of the season, winning the fifth division by three lengths in 1:57. Kayne Kauffman drove the Summa Cum Laude gelding for Mike Polhamus.
The other male winners on Monday were Summa’s Legacy for Chris Page and Brian Brown in 1:57.1 in the third division and Ain’t No Fire for Noble and Thomas Litt in 1:57.3 in the sixth division. Ain’t No Fire, a Catch The Fire colt, has hit the board in five of six seasonal starts with three wins. It was the first career victory for Summa Cum Laude gelding Summa’s Legacy.
All five divisions of filly pacers featured first-time BSS winners.
First-division winner Stride For Stride posted the fastest time, winning by over two lengths in a lifetime-best 1:55.4. Justin Irvine drove the Lather Up filly for trainer Garry Martin. She has three wins in four starts this season.
Noble added a fourth driving win on the card with Dustin Pfeifer trainee She’s As Well. The Well Said filly won the fourth division by more than seven lengths in 1:57.1 for her second victory of 2025.
Tyler Smith scored driving wins with Fire Country and Standerosa.
Fire Country won the second division by two lengths in 2:00, marking her second victory in five seasonal starts. The Catch The Fire filly is trained by Logan Rowe.
Standerosa recorded her first career victory, taking the fifth division in 1:59.1. A filly by The Panderosa, she is trained by Tye Loy.
Page added a second driving win, guiding Brown trainee Atom Heart Mother to victory in 2:00 in the third division. It was the first career win for the Downbytheseaside filly.
Buckeye Stallion Series action continues Monday, Aug. 11, with the fourth leg for sophomore filly trotters at MGM Northfield Park.
The three-day Champaign County Fair meet continues on Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug. 5-6). Both days feature a 15-race card beginning at 6:30 p.m. (EDT). The races will be livestreamed on the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association YouTube channel.