from harness publicists across North America

Sunday’s (June 21) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Casino and Raceway, Tioga Downs, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Running Aces, Buffalo Raceway and Hippodrome 3R.

Daylon Miracle captures Open Trot at Saratoga

Saratoga Springs, NY — Daylon Miracle (Pegasus Spur) became the second consecutive mare to win the Open Trot at Saratoga Casino and Raceway as she outclosed her rivals on Sunday in her local debut.

Melissa Simser photo

Daylon Miracle was a 1:55.1 winner in the Open Trot.

The 6-year-old mare got a second over trip and powered into the lead in the stretch before stopping the timer in 1:55.1. Fellow Pocono Downs invader Zooming (Wally Hennessey) held strong for second despite a first over journey while the race’s frontrunner Zoey De Vie (Jim Devaux) had to settle for third.

Daylon Miracle, who scored her seventh win in 13 seasonal tries, became the fourth different Rene Allard trainee to earn a victory in the local Open this year. The race’s 2-1 public choice was driven to victory by Billy Dobson in the $19,500 Sunday feature.

Daylon Miracle became the second mare in as many weeks to prevail in the Open Trot after Chris Marino’s Tweet Me won her first local feature last Sunday.

Live racing resumes at Saratoga on Thursday with 3-year-old filly pacers featured as part of the New York Sire Stakes. First post time is set for 4 p.m.

— Saratoga Casino and Raceway

Tioga Downs
Narrowly missing Fireyourguns in last week’s top pacing event, Bettorsluckystreak ($13.00) sustained a first-over grind to just collar even-money favorite That’ll Be The Rei in Sunday afternoon’s $14,000 Open Pace at Tioga Downs. Jim Taggart Jr. floated into midfield with the 5-year-old Bettor’s Delight gelding at race’s outset, out-sprinted up the pegs by Believe This Bob (Dan Clements) in the initial stages. Believe This Bob subsequently ceded the lead to That’ll Be The Rei (Jim Marohn Jr.) after a sensible :27.3 opening quarter-mile. Just as That’ll Be The Rei pulled the pace back through a :56.3 half, Bettorsluckystreak mounted his first-over rally, gaining steadily from fourth to apply pressure at the midpoint of the backstretch. The two would duel through the far turn and into the stretch, with Bettorsluckystreak just collaring That’ll Be The Rei by a neck in 1:53.4, also staving off a three-wide push from the second-over Dreamlands Art (Brandon Simpson), who took third placing. Trainer Gary Messenger co-owns Bettorsluckystreak with Kenneth Weckstein and Richard Rubin.The 11-race program also featured a pair of second round Nichols True Value late closing events, with Let’s Foal Around ($7.40, Mike Simons) and Jeneral Patton ($2.50, Jim Marohn Jr.) both parlaying pocket trips into victories. Live racing returns to Tioga on Friday (June 26) evening, with post time slated for 6:15 p.m. (EDT).

Harrah’s Philadelphia
Linda Toscano trainee El Bloombito (Marcus Miller) picked up his third straight win in the featured event at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Sunday. It was a pace for non-winners of $20,000 in their last five starts or non-winners of nine pari-mutuel races or $90,000 lifetime. The 4-year-old son of American Ideal got away sixth off a fast first quarter (:26.1) set by lukewarm favorite Mr Husani N (Jim Pantaleano). The pace remained contested, as Ron Coyne trainee National Debt (George Napolitano Jr.) brushed up to clear by the half, which was timed in :54.2. That’s when El Bloombito made his move. He used a quick burst to take the lead at the three-quarter pole (1:21.3). He maintained a two length lead to the finish, equaling a lifetime’s best performance of 1:50. Bettor’s Glass (Andrew McCarthy) rallied for place, while Grab Your Keys (Victor Kirby) closed for the show spot. It was the ninth career win for El Bloombito ($7.00), who is owned by Stake Your Claim Stable, Camelot Stable, and Fred Wallace. Winning driver Marcus Miller had three wins on the card. George Napolitano Jr. and Andrew McCarthy each had four wins on the Father’s Day program.

Running Aces
Silence Son (Nick Roland) used a convincing third quarter brush to overtake pacesetting El Azteca (Tim Maier) and favored Franky Provolone (Steve Wiseman), then threw in a :29 final panel to win the $8,000 Open Trot at Running Aces on Sunday night in 1:56.1. Franky Provolone, who had captured the weekly top trot on the first two Sundays of the 2015 meet, also overtook El Azteca to finish second in his third attempt. Silence Son is owned and trained by George Reider. It was the sixth win this season for the 6-year-old altered son of Majestic Son with the first five coming at Cal-Expo in Sacramento. With 22 lifetime wins in just 78 starts, the winner now sports an $82,509 career bankroll. For driver Nick Roland, the win in the feature race was one of four on the program and vaulted the 32-year-old Iowa native back to the top of the dash standings after nine nights of the 53-night summer season. Roland’s other triumphs were with Just The Way It Is (1:53.4), Hotmones (1:55.1) and Place At The Beach (1:56.1). Luke Plano scored a driving double behind Free Girl (1:56.1) and Prana (1:52.1, quickest mile of the night).

Buffalo Raceway
When last seen, J A T O was in the winner’s circle after posting a 1-1/2 length victory in the $10,000 New York County Fair final for 2-year-old colt trotters at Monticello Raceway back on Sept. 2, 2014. After nearly a nine-month layoff, J A T O resurfaced again, this time on Sunday afternoon at Buffalo Raceway and the results were the same — impressive. In winning the County Fair final back in September, J A T O broke stride at the start and spotted the field more than 11 lengths at the quarter pole but roared back for the victory. While not breaking this time, J A T O trailed the trotters in the $3,200 conditioned event at Buffalo Raceway by more than a dozen lengths after the opening panel but proved once again the lead wasn’t insurmountable. The 3-year-old colt got in gear and smartly trotted around the field, taking a three-quarter length decision over TK’s Diva in a lifetime best of 2:02.1. The was only the second pari-mutuel start for J A T O (Big Apple Deli-Highwaytoheaven), both of which are now victories. He was eight-of-nine on the non-betting New York Fair circuit in 2014, earning $16,851 including the County Fair final purse. Co-owned by trainer Margaret Butler and Amy Butler, J A T O was driven to the win by Doug Ackley. In the C.K.G. Billings Amateur Driving Series, Stephen Oldford won with Lady Jill ($6.00) while Robert Davis sprung an upset, taking Stags Leap ($11.20) to the winner’s circle in the second division. Racing will continue on Wednesday night at Buffalo Raceway with a 10-race card scheduled for 5 p.m.

Hippodrome 3R
The little 3-year-old pacing filly Rainbow Palace put her two-race win streak against the boys at the Hippodrome 3R Sunday and came away with her third straight triumph in an exciting four-horse photo finish. Owned and driven by Francis Picard for trainer Dominique Picard, Rainbow Palace started from the rail in the ninth race co-feature pace and got away in third place as Matts Phil (Pascal Berube) outgunned Shanghai Kang (Michel Nolette) as they sped to the opening quarter in :28.2. Then as the field walked to the half-mile marker in :59.2, Picard came first-over with Rainbow Palace and then the pace quickened and Rainbow Palace could not gain on Matts Phil and settled into the two-hole before the three-quarters in 1:28.4. But as the field came around the final turn, Picard sent Rainbow Palace out again and the filly responded, collaring Matts Phil as they started down the stretch. Those two, along with Barre Oblique (Sylvain Lacaille) and Y S Joe (Stephane Brosseau) made for the close photo finish. Rainbow Palace emerged the winner by a head with Y S Joe finishing fourth by just a half-length. Matts Phil was second with Barre Oblique third. The time of the race was 1:58.3. It was the third win in seven starts this year for Rainbow Palace as she preps for the upcoming Quebec-Bred Series. The daughter of Royal Mattjesty is owned by Francis Picard of Warwick, QC. She paid $4.60 to win. The third race co-feature trot saw a real dogfight early on as Beer Maggs (Kevin Maguire) got the early lead but Somoli E (Jerome Lombart) wanted the front and Beer Maggs made him pay, parking him to the opening quarter in :28 and then to the half in :57.1 before Somoli E cleared to the lead. Meanwhile, sitting in third place the entire time was R Rkadabra and driver Stephane Gendron. Now it was their turn to take command and they shot to the lead by the three-quarters in 1:28.2 and breezed homed to win by 1-3/4 lengths in 1:58.4. Beer Maggs was second with Erge Baboche (Stephane Brosseau) third. A 7-year-old gelded son of Kadabra, it was the second straight win and third victory in the last four starts for K Rkadabra. He is trained and owned by Marc Lemay and paid $4.10 to win. Live harness racing resumes at the Hippodrome 3R on Wednesday with a special post time of 1:30 p.m. For more information visit www.quebecjockeyclub.com.