Lebanon, OH --- With a month left in its inaugural season, Miami Valley Raceway is pleased to announce it has attracted a stellar list of nominees for its first-ever Grand Circuit races on closing night (Sunday, May 4).
The Chip Noble Memorial, for older pacing mares, has attracted 19 nominations with combined lifetime earnings of more than $9.5 million. The Miami Valley Distaff, for older trotting mares, has 29 nominees with a combined lifetime bounty of more than $10 million. A pair of millionairesses remain eligible to each of the much-anticipated events.
Rocklamation ($1,771,329) and Camille ($1,020,591) are the richest pacers on a list that includes a half-dozen who have marks faster than 1:50. The pair recently finished a neck apart in a photo finish in a leg of the Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for female free-for-allers at Yonkers.
At least five other nominees are currently competing in the prestigious Matchmaker including multiple leg winners Somwherovrarainbow and Yagonnakissmeornot.
Other notables on the Chip Noble Memorial nomination list are Shebestingin, who won 12 races in 2013 including the Nadia Lobell, Matron and Glen Garnsey stakes and was favored in the Breeders Crown championship; Betterluvnexttime, who triumphed an amazing 17 times last season; Jerseylicious, who finished third in the 2013 Jugette; American Girl, who has won back-to-back mares Invitationals at Hoosier; and Miami Valley track record holder Ohmybelle, whose current 1:53.3 track standard will definitely be in jeopardy on May 4.
On the trotting side, Maven ($1,423,969) and Cedar Dove ($1,177,330) sport the largest lifetime bankrolls, partially due to their one-two finish in last year’s Breeders Crown divisional championship. Fifteen other nominees, however, all have earnings in excess of $250,000 and a total of 11 of the mares nominated to the Distaff have winning trot records under 1:53.
D’Orsay finished third in the older Breeders Crown race and won the Muscle Hillin 2013. Ma Chere Hall was last year’s Matron winner and runner-up in the Kentucky Filly Futurity; Mistery Woman won the Zweig; Classic Martine finished second in the Hambletonian Oaks; and Frau Blucher was second in the 3-year-old Breeders Crown and won a division of the Buckette. Perfect Alliance is currently a perfect seven-for-seven in 2014 including a clean sweep of the Singer Memorial Series at The Meadowlands, while Daylon Miracle has won five of her last six starts in Open/Preferred company at The Meadows.
Estimated purse for the Chip Noble Memorial Pace is $50,000. The Miami Valley Distaff Trot will race for approximately $60,000. The top nine 2013-14 money winners that enter will comprise the fields for these Grand Circuit races with any other qualified mares that enter and don’t get in the races entitled to a berth in an Open event on the same program or a refund of their nominating and sustaining payments.