Dayton: Lexus Kody overcomes nightmarish trip to tally in Trotting Derby

Lexus Kody, the 3-5 favorite, wound up getting shuffled to last early on the final turn but weathered about the worst journey you could draw up with a wide and powerful kick that carried him to a 1:51 4/5 victory in the Grade 2 Dayton Trotting Derby for free-for-allers on Saturday night at Hollywood Gaming Dayton Raceway.

The problems for Lexus Kody and driver Yannick Gingras started right from the get-go as he was trapped on the pylons from the pole position as a two-wide tier developed to his outside that included Up Your Deo (Ake Svanstedt), Southwind Coors (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.), Aetos Kronos S (Dexter Dunn) and Security Protected (Andy McCarthy). That put Lexus Kody back in sixth at the 26 4/5 quarter as Up Your Deo made his way around Hillexotic (Austin Hanners) for command.

Up Your Deo was still on top at the 54 3/5 half but was under siege from the parked-out Southwind Coors, and Southwind Coors would forge his way by Up Your Deo heading to the 1:23 1/5 three-quarters. When Southwind Coors cleared and slid down to the pylons, that left Logan Park first-over and Aetos Kronos S second-over as Lexus Kody was at the back of the bus as they motored into the last turn.

Dunn angled Aetos Kronos S into a three-wide position on the final bend and began to charge towards Southwind Coors. As that was going on up front, Gingras had been able to angle Lexus Kody into the widest position, and he was absolutely raging with trot. Aetos Kronos S struck the front in the lane but was no match for the powerful strides of Lexus Kody late, as Lexus Kody surged past Aetos Kronos S to score by three-quarters of a length. Chapercraz (Chris Page) was third, followed by Security Protected and Southwind Coors.

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"I was screwed from the word go. I knew I was in a bad spot, just got lucky I was able to squeeze out in the last turn. He's just a tremendous horse and he's so sharp," said Gingras. "Obviously it wasn't a a good drive, so all the credit goes to him. Now, he's nice to drive; he would never have been able to do all this maneuvering we did tonight. The job they've done with him and then you've got to give credit to the horse, too. He matured, the Burke Brigade did a great job, but I'm so proud of him. He's a top horse.

"He's always had the ability. His gait has never really been the problem. He would trot perfect one week and just gallop the next. It was all mental. I'm just thankful that he got it all figured out."

Ron Burke trains Lexus Kody, a 7-year-old gelding by Archangel, for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC. and Phil Collura. Lexus Kody has 35 wins, 20 seconds and 11 thirds from 87 career starts, has earned $1,671,010 and returned $3.40 to win.

"We haven't had this kind of luck and success in a long time," remarked Collura. "He just got in a bad spot right off the bat. The flow started and he was shuffled back. I never really gave him a chance at the quarter pole but when he tipped five-wide, I said 'he's going to get something there,' but I didn't know if he'd get there to win it. And a shout out to (groom) Joe Joe Tosies because he's one of the big reasons why he got so good."