Northfield, Ohio – On a night that featured some of Ohio’s biggest stars in the Tom Aldrich President’s Trot and Myron Charna President’s Pace, Catch The Fire and Bit Of A Legend N shined in the Ohio Sires Stakes for two-year-old colt and gelding trotters at MGM Northfield Park on Saturday (Aug. 10).
In the first of two $65,000 divisions, My First Fire (Austin Hanners) waited out a long preliminary and won by a nose. The son of Catch The Fire waited for the first quarter and worked hard to overtake Extra Suds (Brett Miller) and take the lead. The pair reached the quarter in :28.
Hanners was able to catch a breather in the second quarter, reaching the halfway point in :57.3. My First Fire tried to put some distance between them and reached the halfway point in 1:25.4. Extra Suds still had a little more in the tank, however, but the race was over and My First Fire won in 1:54.1. Whatchagonnado (Aaron Merriman) was third.
It was the third win of the year for the driver trained by Todd Luther, who owns Greg Luther Racing LLC.
In the second $65,000 division, clear favorite Rick Wink (David Miller) made short work of the field by taking the lead and never relenting, winning by 2.5 lengths from Twin B High Tide (Austin Hanners) in 1:51.4.
House Of Brix (Trevor Smith) caught up late in three rows to finish third.
The two-year-old out of McArdle’s dam Mcgrin N Mcbare is owned by Burke Racing Stable, RAS Racing, Knox Services, J&T Silva Purnell and Libby and took his fifth career win with the victory.