DAYTON, OH. – Western Fame tuned up for the Friday (Sept. 27) $150,000 Dayton Pacing Derby with a stellar winning 1:48.1 harness racing performance in Saturday's $17,500 Open Handicap Pace at Hollywood Dayton Raceway.
The clocking was the second fastest in the six year history of the southwest Ohio five-eighths mile oval.
Trainer-driver Dan Noble gunned the 6 year old son of Western Ideal towards the lead as soon as the starting car folded the wings, but it took a determined :25.3 second effort to finally clear upset minded Fan Of Terror (Brett Miller) and My Hero Ron (Tyler Smith). The winner then cruised through subsequent timing stations in :53.1 and 1:20.2 before tacking on a final :28 panel to subdue a mild late challenge from Fan Of Terror.
The victory was No. 23 for Western Fame from 64 starts, and added to his $1.7 million career bounty. He is owned by Go Fast Stable of Ohio, S. Klunowski of Ontario, B&I Stables LLC of New Jersey and Gil Short of Virginia.
In the rapidly approaching Dayton Pacing Derby, Western Fame will square off against Donttellmeagain (Tim Tetrick), who owns the 1:47.4 quickest clocking in Dayton Raceway history taken in the track's signature event in 2018. Among the stellar notable Grand Circuit pacing stars that are also eligible to the stakes event are This Is The Plan, McWicked, Courtly Choice, Endeavor, Miso Fast and others.
This coming Friday's card will also include the $170,000 Dayton Trotting Derby whose list of eligible nominees reads like a Who's Who of the active older squaregaiter set.
Entries are due Monday morning for the Dayton Derbies as well as the strongest undercard of the season.
Gregg Keidel