Columbus, OH — Doo Wop Hanover led all the way to win the $225,000 Jim Ewart Memorial for free-for-all pacers in 1:49.2 on harness racing's Ohio Super Night Saturday (Sept. 12) at Scioto Downs.
Driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. took Doo Wop Hanover off the gate first, followed by All Bets Off (Matt Kakaley) and Limelight Beach (Chris Page). Doo Wop Hanover led to the quarter in 26.1 and half in 54.2 before being challenged by Limelight Beach, who was flushed from third by favored State Treasurer (David Miller).
Past the three-quarters in 1:21.2 and into the stretch, the 5-1 Doo Wop Hanover paced strongly down the stretch to win by a head over All Bets Off from the pocket. State Treasurer was third.
“The one I was worried about was the one behind me, and he almost got me at the wire, but my horse dug in,” said Wrenn. “The front-end wasn’t really a good spot to be tonight—it’s a cold night—but he overcame it and everything worked out.”
Trained by Steve Elliott for co-owners Peter Blood and Rick Berks, Doo Wop Hanover is a 4-year-old horse by Rocknroll Hanover. He has won seven of 15 starts, with three seconds and one third. Second trainer Jake “Shorty” Leamon was with the horse, who shipped from his home base at Showplace Farms in New Jersey. It was Wrenn’s first drive on the horse, so Leamon gave him one piece of advice: the more you grab him, the more he goes.
“I told him that you can’t really fire him up, because then he won’t come back to you, but he seemed pretty manageable when they got to the half,” said Leamon. “I told him just to keep the bit in his mouth and he will be good for you.”
The race is named after Jim Ewart, who worked at 18 different racetracks during his career, serving as race secretary at Scioto Downs from 1976-2002. He died on Feb. 14, 2002. The first edition of the race was contested in 2013, with Pet Rock winning in a world-record 1:47.2. Bigtown Hero won the 2014 edition in 1:48.2.
Saturday’s “Super Night” card also includes the $100,000 Chip Noble Memorial for older trotters, won by Wind Of The North in 1:53.2, and eight $225,000 Ohio Sire Stakes championships. In addition, there was a fundraiser for driver Brad Hanners, who was diagnosed recently with kidney cancer. A special Man vs. Horse race, with 1988 Olympic gold medalist Butch Reynolds, was won by the horse when Reynolds pulled up at the sixteenth pole, citing an issue with his shoe. However, more than $800 was raised for the Butch Reynolds Care for Kids Foundation.
USTA Communications Department