Columbus, OH — The eighth annual Jim Ewart Memorial for older male pacers will be raced at Eldorado Scioto Downs on Saturday (Sept 11). The purse was boosted to $135,000 from the estimated $125,000 advertised amount with the $10,000 supplement of a horse by Black Magic Racing.

Todd Luther trains the supplemented horse, Dojea Gizmo, who will be driven by Trevor Smith, as well as the 3-1 morning line favorite, Catch The Fire, who will be driven by Mike Wilder.

Catch The Fire is the 3-1 morning line favorite. USTA/Mark Hall photo.

Wilder last drove Catch The Fire in the Progress Pace at Dover Downs on Nov. 25, 2020, after driving him in all of his 3-year-old starts for then trainer John Ackley. Black Magic Racing purchased majority interest in Catch The Fire in January 2021 and stood him at stud this spring. The 4-year-old stud covered 86 mares while at Sugar Valley Farms in Delaware, Ohio, and then was driven by owner Greg Luther in his first qualifier of 2021 at Scioto on May 11.

Since then, Catch The Fire has seven wins in 12 starts with $453,863 earned this season, including wins in a Sam McKee Memorial division and the Dan Patch. He was second in the Canadian Pacing Derby his last time out on Sept. 4, pacing his mile in 1:49.3.

The second favorite, at 7-2, is This Is The Plan, a 6-year-old gelding trained by Ron Burke who will be driven by Chris Page. This Is The Plan finished a couple lengths behind Catch The Fire in the Canadian Pacing Derby, finishing third, but has wins in the MGM Borgata final, the Battle of Lake Erie, a Roll With Joe division and the Joe Gerrity Memorial, which gives him $713,244 on the year.

Workin Ona Mystery and Ronnie Wrenn Jr. are the 9-2 third choice on the morning line for trainer Brian Brown. The 5-year-old horse won the #SendItIn Invitational two weeks ago at Scioto in 1:49.1. In just seven starts going into the Ewart, Workin Ona Mystery has $91,223 earned but seems to be coming into top form, having peeled off three straight sub-1:50 miles, all in the month of August.

The rest of the undercard for the evening includes a $23,000 open pace, five divisions of the Buckeye Stallion Series for 2-year-old colt pacers and three BSS divisions for 3-year-old pacing fillies. First post is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.

The entire field for the Jim Ewart Memorial is as follows:

PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer-ML
1-Little Rocket Man-John DeLong-Melissa Essig-10/1
2-Dojea Gizmo-Trevor Smith-Todd Luther-20/1
3-This Is The Plan-Chris Page-Ron Burke-7/2
4-Gold Digger King-Brett Miller-Scott Mogan-8/1
5-Sectionline Bigry-Tyler Smith-Steve Bauder-20/1
6-Workin Ona Mystery-Ronnie Wrenn Jr.-Brian Brown-9/2
7-Catch The Fire-Mike Wilder-Todd Luther-3/1
8-Nicholas Beach-Joe Bongiorno-Jennifer Bongiorno-6/1
9-Ocean Rock-Dan Noble-Christi Noble-6/1