by Ayers Ratliff, for Northfield Park

Northfield, OH — On Saturday (Oct. 6) Northfield Park hosted eight $40,000 divisions of Buckeye Stallion Series Championships and four $60,000 Ohio Sires Stakes (OSS) Championships for 4-year-olds and up.

JJ Zamaiko Photography

Yankee Boots set a new track record of 1:51.3 on Saturday night at Northfield Park..

The stakes racing action led to a track record being set for freshman gelding pacers and a tied mark for 5-and-up trotting geldings. Yankee Boots won the evening’s fourth race, the $40,000 Buckeye Stallion Series championship 2-year-old colt pace. His 1:51.3 clocking made him the fastest 2 year-old pacing gelding in the track’s history.

The mark was previous broke in 2017 by Drew The Dragon (Dan Noble) in 1:51.4.

Steve Carter of Londonderry, Ohio trains and co-owns the pacer with Peggy Carter, Chuck Grubbs and J Whitacre. Aaron Merriman was in the sulky for the winning drive.

Yankee Boots (Yankee Cruiser-Scootin Mercedes-Expensive Scooter) started from post four. He left from the gate and led every call through fractions of :26.3, :55.2, 1:23 and 1:51.3, besting his competition by two lengths.

Yankee Boots now has nine wins in 14 starts. Saturday’s victory bolstered his bankroll to $93,010. He was heavily favored and returned $2.80 to win.

Race 10, the $60,000 OSS championship for 4-and-up trotting horses and geldings, saw Lady’s Dude equal the 1:53.2 record for five-and-up trotting geldings. This is the fourth time this record has been set and is a tie with Obrigado (Mark MacDonald) in 2016, Cimeronken (Aaron Merriman) in 2018, and Fly Jesse Fly (Chris Lems) in 2018.

Ron Burke trains the trotter for owners Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and JE Yoder. Chris Page was in the sulky.

Lady’s Dude (Victory Sam-Lady’s Star-Hi Noon Star) started from the rail and sat the pocket through times of :27.1, :55.3 and 1:24.2. Page pulled approaching top of the stretch and won by a half length in 1:53.2.

Lady’s Dude now has 11 wins in 23 starts this year. This victory represents his 45th career score and pushed his earnings $793,848. He paid $8.80 to win.