by Jason Roth, for Scioto Downs

Columbus, OH — Crosswinds Cupcake took the last of the 3-year-old filly State Fair Stakes in near track record time, 1:51.4, at Scioto Downs Friday (August 7).

When Bell Flower (Chris Page) and Friskie Lil Devil (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr) battled to a half in :54.3, Dan Noble took Crosswinds Cupcake three-wide down the backside to make the top and never looked back.

Conrad photo

Crosswinds Cupcake took her 3-year-old filly State Fair Stakes division in near track record time, 1:51.4, at Scioto Downs.

“Early on she was really hard to manage and finally Dave (trainer Elliott) and I got together at Xenia. We re-rigged her and she seems to be perfect,” said Noble. “I knew going to the half like that made my job easy.”

Owned by Stephen Sexton and Crosswinds Stable Farm, Crosswinds Cupcake is by Stand Forever out of the Artsplace mare Keystone Mulberry.

The first pacing division went to an upset winner, Tolatetoapologize, at 10-1 in 1:54.2 for trainer/driver Kayne Kauffman. Another long shot, Hailstorm Grace and Dan Noble at 27-1 was a late closing second.

The father/son trainer/driver team of Dan and Kyle Ater won the first division of the filly trot, for a purse of $52,400, with Honey B in 1:56.4. After securing the pocket trip from the five hole, the daughter of Victory Sam went up the passing lane to nip Like Old Times (Ronnie Wrenn, Jr) at the wire.

“She’s been racing right with them all the time, a couple lengths off them, a length off them,” said trainer Dan Ater. “ She’s always put in a good effort, got a good trip tonight and things worked out…we knew she could leave and just thought that it was time to get rolling.”

The second division of filly trotters went to Student Of Life and Kurt Sugg in 1:57.3. Leading the field at every call, the daughter of Full Count now has five wins in nine starts this year for trainer Marty Wollam.

The final day of State Fair Stakes at Scioto is Saturday with a first post of 6:30 p.m.. With enough horses to fill only one division each, the 3-year-old colt pacers will vie for $101,000 while the trotters will go for $101,500.