from Hollywood Gaming Dayton Raceway

Dayton, OH — Driver Kyle Ater, still recovering from a severe bout with the flu which caused him to miss all his drives at Dayton Raceway on Monday night, returned to the sulky with a vengeance on Wednesday (Dec. 10). The 38-year-old reinsman moved up a notch to fifth in the local dash standings with four wins — all at double digit pari-mutuel prices.

Ater’s barrage of tote board bombers began in the second race when he guided the trotter Bad Habit to a 1:59.4 score over Above The Law (Jack Dailey) and Royal Macho (Greg Grismore) at odds of 23-1. It was just the second pari-mutuel win for the 4-year-old mare trained by Michael Walker and rewarded patrons who backed her with $48.60 for a $2 wager.

Two races later Ater duplicated the feat with the 8-year-old trotting mare Northmedo Esther, topping Facial Expressions (Hugh Beatty) and Sack Full Of Hope (Dan Noble) and returning $49.00 at the betting windows. It was the 25th lifetime triumph for the Mike Medors trainee, but just the second in 31 tries in 2014.

Hot Flashes gave Ater his third win on the night in the seventh race, beating Upfront Harley (Chris Page) and Sigh Of Relief (Jeff Nisonger) in 1:58.1. It was the first seasonal win in 31 tries for Delvin Criswell’s 4-year-old pacing mare and returned another handsome pari-mutuel return, $21.60 for a standard $2 bet.

When trainer Deborah Swartz sent Ater out with She’s A Ball in the next race, it probably seemed like a “chalk” mount to the red-hot driver. Sent to post at just over 4-1 odds, Ater managed his fourth tally in 1:55.2, besting Sam’s Shuffle (Chris Page) and Yankee’s Lady (Josh Sutton) and paying $10.40.

Josh Sutton, Dan Noble and Randy Tharps also scored driving doubles on the 12-race card.

With just ten programs remaining in the inaugural season at Hollywood Dayton Raceway, Sutton heads the driver’s standings with 86 victories in 47 nights. He is followed by Chris Page with 75, Dan Noble with 64, Jason Brewer with 52, Kyle Ater with 48, Kayne Kauffman and Randy Tharps with 45 apiece, Greg Grismore with 39, Jeremy Smith with 37, Shawn Barker II with 25, Brad Hanners with 24 and Tyler Smith with 14.

A total of 37 different drivers have won at least one race thus far over the sport’s newest five-eighths-mile track.