Wrenn wins five at Scioto
Columbus, OH --- Ronnie Wrenn, Jr. started the night at Scioto Downs Racino Thursday on fire, winning the first, and ended the evening with a bang by taking the last. But that last race win, a 1:54 mile with Knob Hill Sadie, wasn’t just finishing the evening with a nightcap, it gave him his fifth win of the night.
Wrenn’s charge in the first race, Rediscovery (Tell All-Dream Card), broke his maiden by coming home in :27.4 to win in 1:54.2. Only the third foal out of his dam, the colt has genetic potential for speed as his full sister, Spend It All, took a mark this year of 1:51.4 and his three-quarter brother by Real Desire, Real Hero, took his 1:51.2 mark at three. The Ben Davis trainee led from the half call on and never looked back -- but neither did his driver. Wrenn went on to win four more races in 12 total starts while also finishing in the money three other times.
Wrenn’s other wins included Play Right, a trotter trained by Michael Walker, who won in 1:59.2; QB Sam, who took race 10 for owner/trainer Dean Fraker in a new lifetime best 1:53.3; Victorinthevalley, another trotter, who went in 1:57.4 for trainer Jeff Miller; and the aforementioned Knob Hill Sadie, who is trained by Noah Garrett.
Wrenn, a 26-year-old native of Michigan, sits fourth in the driver standings at Scioto with 46 wins in 337 starts so far this season. Scioto racing veterans Chris Page and Dan Noble sit third and second, respectively, while Tony Hall sits on top of the leaderboard with 87 wins at the Columbus track after winning four races himself Thursday.
Wrenn is third in North America in terms of wins with 354 at the end of racing Thursday, just surpassing Tim Tetrick who has 349 and behind Corey Callahan(401) and Dave Palone (382). He also sits ninth in the national standings with a .345 UDR. He is well on his way to having his best year of racing with $1,295,014 in purse earnings (versus his best year of $1,546,137 in 2012).
-- Scioto Downs
Vernon Downs
Table Games rallied along the inside in Thursday night’s $8,000 featured ninth race at Vernon Downs and pulled off a career-fastest 1:52.3 victory. Roman Lopez earned a driving triple during the evening’s top test for female pacers by sending Table Games up the pylon path from third in the final 16th of the mile and was rewarded with a neck triumph over the favorite, Bells Are Ringing. Thursday’s tight tally marked the second season’s score and the eighth lifetime win for the 4-year-old daughter of Bettor's Delight-Mack’s Table, who is trained by Sam Serianni and owned by the Slo-Down Stable, Edmund Namiotka, Jr. and Frank H. Kane. She increased her all-time winnings to $104,140. Thursday’s racing also saw provisional pilot Michael Mancini earn his first pari-mutuel driving victory (behind the pacer Rocks N Bagels in the fourth race). E. J. Treadway’s Misty Major become the fastest 2-year-old filly pacer of the track’s 60th meeting with a 1:54.3 maiden score in the second race (Jimmy Whittemore steering for veteran conditioner Angus MacDonald) and the freshman colt trotter Resolve, driven by trainer Lopez for owners Michael Pozefsky, William Pozefsky and Edward W. Wilson, became the swiftest member of his class after 40 programs with a 1:58.1 initial career victory in the third event. Thursday’s three-win outing by Lopez was his ninth of the season locally, tying him with leading dash-winning driver Rick Plano (79 first-place finishes), who also earned a hat trick during the card’s competition. Whittemore recorded a pair of scores, as did trainer MacDonald during the 10-race program.
Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Let’s Go Higher (Cole Muffler) won her first Fillies and Mares Open at Saratoga on June 30. She went out to Vernon Downs and set a lifetime mark in their Open for distaff pacers in her last start. On Thursday night, the Heidi Rohr trainee was back in town and wound up back in the winner’s circle. Let’s Go Higher sat the pocket to the race’s favorite, Bell On Wheels, and pounced on her in the stretch to record a 1:54 victory in the $18,000 feature. Bell On Wheels (Harry Landy) was the runner-up while Persistent (Stephane Bouchard) earned the show spot. Let’s Go Higher won for the fifth time this season for owner Jesse De Long.