When the field of nine was sent out, a three-way battle for early control ensued between Apple Town (Trace Tertick), Vel Im All Fire (Cam McCown) and Rks Captain (Luke Hanners).
The Rks captain of post 8 was parked outside the opening quarters at 27.4 hours.
McCown didn’t want to be in the pocket and was right out as the field passed the stands for the first time.
Vel Im All Fire went against the strong headwind and stumbled over the half mile in:58.1.
Tetrick moved the betting favorite outside and led four outside challengers at the three-quarter mark in 1:26.1.
Rks Captain was patient in the pocket and had a clear shot at the leader, but Vel Im All Fire had enough in the tank to take a 1 1/2 length victory in a new lifetime best time 1:54.4.
Apple Town retained third place.
VEL IM ALL FIRE REPEAT
The winning Straight Shooting filly is conditioned by Nathan Alexander for the AIR Stable.
The win was McCown’s third of the night.
Another ride that had a good night was Dayton Raceway’s leading racer, Chris Page, who returned to the winner’s circle five times during the 14-race card.
Page guided four Ron Burke trainees to victory: Brink Street (1:56), Hilltop Sonar (1:54.1), Bravo Hill (1:57.2) and Banderas (1:52). His other winner was the Steve Carter-trained Beach Master Keene (1:54.4).
The Delaware, Ohio-based pilot has a stranglehold on the drivers’ standings with a 42-win lead over second-place Tyler Smith.
Burke has a 50-38 lead over Carter in the training race.
Racing returns to Dayton Raceway on Wednesday (Dec. 10) with a post time of 4 p.m. Free past performance pages are available at hollywooddaytonraceway.com.
For full race results, click here: American trotting results.
By means of Jay Wolf for Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway
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