Hilltop Sonar is too strong in sloppy conditions

Hilltop sonar (What the hill) used a perfect pocket trip to overcome sloppy track conditions and nine harness racing rivals to make the $18,000 conditioned claiming trot on Tuesday (Nov. 18) at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway. Aunt Lilly (Luke Hanners) and Hilltop Sonar (Chris Page) both started aggressively with the intention of taking the early lead.

Aunt Lilly brightened and Page pocketed Hilltop Sonar during the first quarter of :28.

The 50-1 shot Tombstone (Marc St. Louis, Jr.) couldn’t find a spot on the rail and was forced to run the long mile as the field reached the half-mile station in :57.1.

As the field made its way down the backstretch, the gambler’s choice, Sure Did (Jeremy Smith), was forced to go three-wide around the tiring Tombstone at the three-quarter mark in 1:26.

As the leader rounded the final turn, Hanners put the earphones on Aunt Lilly, but Hilltop Sonar pulled the pocket and moved two lengths clear of an approaching Southernsunshine (Brett Miller) in 1:54.4.

HILL TOP SONAR REPEAT

Aunt Lilly retained the show spot and Sure Did completed the top four.

Hilltop Sonar is a second son of What The Hill and is owned by the quartet of Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Beasty and Rich Lombardo Racing.

Brett Miller took one of his three wins that night in the $15,000 non-Winners of 4 Conditioned Pace on Fly High Cruiser.

Austin Hanners had quickly shot Threemargarita off the wings of the fence, putting Fly High Cruiser into the two hole, but Miller wasn’t satisfied with the 25-1 leader.

A quick brush had Fly High Cruiser in the lead past the opening panels in :28.3 and :56.1.

A quick move by Believe In Tom (Marc St. Louis, Jr.) down the backstretch provided some pressure at the three-quarter mark in 1:23.4.

Fly High Cruiser responded to Miller’s urging and opened up to win by 2 ¾ lengths from Be Ready To Rock (Luke Hanners) in the passing lane.

A furious rally from favorite Boomerang (Chris Page) dead-heated the show with Threemargariteshot.

The three-year-old Yankee Cruiser gelding is co-owned by trainer/breeder Anette Lorentzon and Tony Hall.

Driver Tyler Smith also scored a trio of wins on the 14-race card.

Hollywood Gaming on Dayton Raceway’s Wednesday card (Nov. 19) continues at 4 p.m

For full race results, click here: American trotting results.

By means of Jay Wolf for Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway