by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Columbus, OH — Scioto Downs hosted Ohio Super Night on Saturday (Sept. 27), featuring eight $200,000 Ohio Sire Stakes finals for 2- and 3-year-olds of both sexes and gaits.

Here is a recap of the evening.

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship for 3-year-old trotting colts

Lady’s Dude denied Rompaway Galaxy the Ohio Triple Crown by fending off that advancing rival at the wire in a track record 1:53.4 performance to kick off the eight $200,000 Ohio championship events at Scioto Downs in the fourth race on the card.

Lady’s Dude held off Rompaway Galaxy by a neck.

Purchased by Ron Burke, Weaver Bruscemi and Johnny Yoder just shy of two months ago and with this triumph over the heavily favored Rompaway Galaxy, he improved his record to 12-3-2-2 and tremendously boosted his $44,836 bankroll.

Although the son of Victory Sam and the High Noon Star mare Lady’s Star was not as seasoned as nearly all of his opponents, as he never faced the starter at age 2 and recently switched shedrows, conditioner Ron Burke retained the services of regular pilot Josh Sutton, who could not have been any more thrilled with him, as well as the new track standard they established.

“The first time I drove this horse was for Bert Hershberger and Marv Ravin because Ron Burke bought him not very long ago,” said Sutton, who is currently Scioto’s leading driver. “I am very thankful they allowed me to keep driving this horse.

“I’m not sure what happened with him at Delaware. I think it was the crowd really, it was just too much for him, but that 1:55 was a huge mile before that and as I’ve driven him he has definitely improved as the first time he was wrapped up, so they just wanted me to get him around, but he is much sharper now and I really felt that if we didn’t beat Mike’s (Micallef) horse (Rompaway Galaxy) then we would be right there.”

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship for 2-year-old pacing fillies

With Lady’s Dude setting the tone, Friskie Lil Devil followed his lead by upending the heavy favorite and previously undefeated Bell Flower in race five, also known as the $200,000 Ohio Sire Stakes championship for 2-year-old filly pacers, but when the race went off she was the public’s second choice.

Owned by the Lil Devil Stable of Findlay, Ohio, Friskie Lil Devil is a daughter of Feelin Friske and the Cole Muffler mare Devils Desire. On the lead for nearly the entire contest, Friskie Lil Devil outlasted the late surge of Bell Flower for her second lifetime victory in 1:55 to boost her record to 8-2-6-0 and extensively pad her $77,266 bankroll.

Trained by recent Jugette winning conditioner Brian Brown and driven by Ronnie Wrenn Jr., four of Friskie Lil Devil’s second place finishes have come at the hooves of Bell Flower, who was a perfect seven for seven, but Brown always liked his filly and thought very highly of her.

“We loved her from the git go,” Brown said. “She was perfectly mannered and perfectly gaited. Right from the start we thought we had one of the best ones out there, but then Bell Flower came out of nowhere. Our filly has had some bad posts and sometimes she wasn’t as good in certain spots as she should have been, but this race was the one we wanted the whole time and we were absolutely thrilled with how it was setting up for us when the draw came out (post position one to Bell Flower’s eight).”

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship 2-year-old filly trotters

After an uncharacteristic performance at Delaware where she failed to hit the board, Sunrise Nibbles trotted strongly to the wire to defeat Lisa Jane in race six. With the win, the filly who is a daughter of Iron Duke and the Kadabra mare Sweethomeourbama, improved her record to 8-6-1 and has earned more than $200,000 in her brief career.

Trained by Chris Beaver and reined by Chris Page, Sunrise Nibbles stopped the clock in 1:58.4 while putting her troubles at Delaware behind her.

“She has had some problems with tying up,” Page said. “I don’t know if you saw it but she was a handful in the post parade. You don’t usually take a 2-year-old to the outrider but with this one you have to. At Delaware she just ran off on me and she almost did here right over there on the turn. You really have to get her thawed out before she races by warming her up correctly. Chris Beaver has done a really, really terrific job with her, but then again he is a tremendous trotting trainer and was in the Hambletonian.”

Ohio Sire Stake Championship for 2-year-old pacing colts and geldings

Western Coby, a gelded son of Western Spirit and the Cole Muffler mare Cole By A Knows, picked up triumph number eight of his 15 start career in what was carded as the seventh race. Trained by Ron Wagner and steered by Wyatt Irvine, Western Coby came home in 1:53.2. The gelding has earned $44,397 prior to this evening’s victory, has a resume of 15-8-2-1 and this race established a new lifetime speed mark for him.

Owned by Wagner, Larry Acker and Dean Davis, Western Coby, sent postward at 5-1 odds, has been a horse his connections feel has been on the improve.

“Right from the beginning of driving him he was a good horse,” Irvine said. “But for a little bit there, I’m not sure what was going on him. He’s back on the bit now though and is really racing a lot more gamer than he had been. He really likes to finish the end of his races and pass horses.”

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship for 2-year-old trotting colts and geldings

Neely’s Messenger has been a monster all season and continued his winnings ways with a dominating trip from wire-to-wire to capture this $200,000 event in 1:58.2. Definitely not disappointing as the favorite, the son of Neely Dunn and the Carry The Message mare Fun Message annexed victory number seven from eight starts to sport a slate of 8-7-0-0 for Dale and Julie Ann Sweet, added to his purse earnings of $115,945 and was simply much the best in the eighth race.

Conditioned and controlled by Marty Wollam, Neely’s Messenger, picked out by his owners and tremendous all season, was a bit of surprise to Wollam.

“They (the owners) brought him to me,” Wollam said. “I never would have even looked at him because I don’t like Neely Dunn at all and his mother never did anything. She was bred to a lot of nice horses but never produced anything except him. In fact, I think she is pulling a buggy somewhere now. I am really just tickled to death with this horse and can’t say enough about what kind of season he has given us.”

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings

Although it was his first victory from 15 starts in 2014, Dibs did not surprise his connections when he tripped the teletimer in 1:53.2 in this $200,000 contest. The son of Pine Valley and the Shady Character mare Cg’s Gem now has a career slate of 24-5-3-5 and prior to this event collected $111,456. A half-brother to Pink Camo and Gray Camo, who are top competitors on this circuit, the gelding is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Jason Melillo and Richard Suda.

“He won a couple of these legs last year and he is a very well bred horse so we never lost confidence in him,” Melillo said. “We have been patient and quite honestly, it’s pretty rewarding to have that win finally come in this race.”

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship for 3-year-old trotting fillies

In a field of very talented fillies, Turbochargedroxie pulled away from Anniesbluejeanbaby in the stretch with last year’s champion In The Grippers far back in third to capture the 10th race in 1:55.3, which is a new lifetime mark. Reined by Dan Noble and trained by Danny Collins, the daughter of Cayenne Turbo and the Lucky Alamahurst mare Raffinee Baby is owned by Joyce McClelland, DM Stables, Dean Davis and William Rufenacht. This win improves her 2014 record to 13-6-3-1 and increases her total purse money collected to over $200,000. Her entire resume now stands at 19-8-4-1.

“She is a little hard to handle and a bit headstrong, but she is a very nice filly that is very sharp right now,” Collins said. “She started the year out very well but then we raced her against some aged horses and that didn’t work out too well. That’s when we took her back to the fairs and got her confidence back up.

“After this race she has the American-National, the Circle City and the Moni Maker is a question mark. That is because that race will have some stiff competition but we will see how she does in the first two.”

Ohio Sire Stakes Championship for 3-year-old pacing fillies

Not even post position nine would deny Crown Time Keeper her 10th triumph of the season and her 15th win lifetime in 1:55.2 in Scioto Down’s 11th race and final Sire Stakes contest.

Conrad photos

Crown Time Keeper rallied late for a three-quarter length victory.

The daughter of Feelin Friskie and the Noble Return mare Crowntime Noreturn came from the far outside to surge past Lady Julie in the middle of the homestretch for conditioner Steve Carter, driver Chris Page and owner/breeder Esther Crownover. The filly is a fourth generation homebred for Mrs. Crownover and has towered over her competition for most of this year after overcoming a health condition as a freshman.

Page, who won his second sire stakes contest on the evening, was not all that concerned the filly drew on the far outside.

“She is such a professional when she is on the racetrack,” he said. “That’s what I love about her. I can do absolutely anything I want with her at any point in the race. She handles anything you put in her way and simply overcomes it. She really is a very, very nice filly.”