Grove City, OH — The Saturday (Aug. 17) card at Eldorado Scioto Downs is highlighted by the $100,000 #SendItIn Invitational for older pacers. First post is at 5:45 p.m. with the #SendItIn going off as race 12.
The 5-2 morning line favorite is the Melissa Essig trainee Buzzsaw Russ who comes in from Hoosier Park. Dave Palone will drive the 4-year-old winner of $595,254 who is fresh off a second-place finish in the Dan Patch and back-to-back wins in the Open.
The #SendItIn field has two Ohio-sired horses in the field. Charlie May (by McArdle) is 7-1 and will be driven by Brett Miller. The winner of $2.1 million is a local fan favorite, whose last start was also in the Dan Patch, finishing fourth.
Seafire, a 4-year-old by Downbytheseaside with Ronnie Wrenn Jr. up and listed at 5-1, took his lifetime mark of 1:48.4 at Scioto three starts back.
Another local connection is starting from the rail — Ohio stallion and regular Scioto open competitor Carbine, with Austin Hanners driving.
The $100,000 Cleopatra Invitational is also on tap with the No. 1 horse on the Hambletonian/Breeders Crown poll, Twin B Joe Fresh, leading the field. Brett Miller gets the call on the Chris Ryder trainee, who is 2-1 on the morning line and has six wins in seven starts so far this season.
Strong Poison (Dan Noble) is the second choice at 5-2.
Full fields for the marquee events are listed below.
#SendItIn Field
1. Carbine (Austin Hanners/Virgil Morgan Jr.) 8/1
2. Admiral Hill (Jason Bartlett/Per Engblom) 5/1
3. Seafire (Ronnie Wrenn Jr./Brian Brown) 5/1
4. Buzzsaw Russ (Dave Palone/Melissa Essig) 5/2
5. Artatac A (Dan Noble/Christi Noble) 6/1
6. American Classic (Eric Goodell/Ron Burke) 8/1
7. Coach Stefanos (Tyler Smith/Erv Miller) 9/2
8. Charlie May (Brett Miller/Steve Carter) 7/1
9. Backstreet Shadow (Trevor Smith/Travis Alexander) 10/1
10. Big Skewy N (Aaron Merriman/Scott Blackler) 10/1
Cleopatra Field
1. Twin B Joe Fresh (Brett Miller/Chris Ryder) 2/1
2. Strong Poison (Dan Noble/Virgil Morgan Jr.) 5/2
3. Kobe’s Gigi (Dave Palone/Melissa Essig) 8/1
4. Hungry For Love (Ronnie Wrenn Jr./Ron Burke) 7/2
5. Man Dontforget Me (Jason Bartlett/Travis Alexander) 7/1
6. Zanatta (Aaron Merriman/Jennifer Bongiorno) 6/1
7. Grace Hill (Austin Hanners/Virgil Morgan Jr.) 10/1
The evening starts out with a $5,802 superfecta carryover in the first race.
The 90-day 2024 Eldorado Scioto Downs race meet runs through Saturday (Sept. 14). Races are held Tuesday-Saturday with a first post of 5:45 p.m. each day, except for Friday (Sept. 13) which will have a 6:15 p.m. post to help accommodate horsemen attending the Ohio Selected Yearling Sale. More information about racing at Scioto can be found on the Eldorado Scioto Downs website.