Dugout holds off Manny Wah to win Steel Valley Sprint

Dugout, a multiple stakes winner against New York-breds last season, hit a home run with a rich road victory, defeating Manny Wah by a neck to win the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint for 3-year-olds on Monday evening at Mahoning Valley in Ohio.

Dugout ($21.80), an Adios Charlie gelding trained and co-owned by Larry Rivelli, won the first three starts of his career last year, including the Funny Cide Stakes at Saratoga and the New York Breeders' Futurity at Finger Lakes. However, he then finished a troubled sixth as the favorite in the one-mile Sleepy Hollow Stakes at Belmont, his only try beyond 6 1/2 furlongs.

Dugout returned from a layoff of nearly 10 months to win an optional-claiming race by 7 1/4 lengths in August at Arlington, finished second in the Decathlon Stakes at Monmouth, and was second in an optional-claiming race at Churchill Downs. He then prevailed over older horses in an optional-claiming race on Nov. 2 at Hawthorne, setting him up for his trip to Ohio.

Ohio-bred Dare Day, coming off a runner-up effort to reigning statebred horse of the year Altissimo in the Best of Ohio Sprint, set the pace in the Steel Valley, zipping a quarter in 21.53 seconds and getting the half in 44.56 seconds while coming into the stretch with a length lead over Dugout. Dugout swung five wide into the stretch under Jareth Loveberry, edged by Altissimo, then held off a late charge from Manny Wah. He stopped the clock in 1:11.19 for the six furlongs.

After Manny Wah, it was 1 1/4 lengths back to Olympic Village, who surged by Dare Day in the final stages to finish third by three lengths. Dare Day held off favored Call Paul by a neck to round out the superfecta. Call Paul, a multiple graded stakes winner, raced evenly in third for most of the race, and displayed no kick in the stretch.

Earlier on the card, Last True Love outgamed Select Friday, the longest shot on the board, to win the $75,000 Mahoning Distaff Stakes.

Last True Love ($6.80), with Gerardo Corrales in the irons for trainer Flint Stites, and Select Friday dueled the length of the stretch, with Last True Love prevailing by three-quarters of a length. She finished the six furlongs in 1:12.68.

Select Friday, sent off at 115-1, paid $53.20 to place and $18.60 to show, and completed a $2 exacta worth $549.60. It was another 1 1/4 lengths to Hidatsa Park in third.

This was the first stakes victory for Last True Love, a 4-year-old Yes It's True filly. She had finished third in the Regret Stakes in September at Monmouth Park and, most recently, fourth in the Pumpkin Pie Stakes on Nov. 9 at Aqueduct.