Miami Valley: Fillies clash in Scarlet & Gray Invitationals

Miami Valley Raceway presented a pair of $50,000 Scarlet & Gray Invitationals for state-bred 3-year-old fillies on Friday (April 23), and the winners of the Ohio Sires Stakes preludes were impressive.

Herculisa (Brett Miller) pinned a narrow defeat on Celebrate With Me (Chris Page) in the trot division, with Katie's Lucky Day (Trevor Smith) rallying to finish third. It was the sixth win in just seven lifetime tries for Herculisa, who entered the $300,000 Ohio Sires Stakes championship last September with an unblemished five-for-five scorecard before making an untimely break in the big dance. After two stellar qualifiers, the daughter of My MVP seems to have returned for her sophomore campaign as the one to beat in the Buckeye State. Her clocking of 1:54 2/5 established a new lifetime mark.

Miller got her away third in the early going, then made a wicked brush to the lead during the third quarter, which was the fastest (27 2/5) split in the race by far. Celebrate With Me, a recent purchase by Burke Racing, Howard Taylor, Weaver Bruscemi LLC., and Knox Services, stalked the winner throughout but couldn’t quite reach her in the stretch duel.

Virgil Morgan Jr. trains Herculisa for the Jesmeral Stable. Her earnings soared to $105,812 with the triumph in her initial 2021 pari-mutuel event.

Lady Arthur (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) was victorious in the Scarlet & Gray filly pace, holding off last year’s O.S.S. champ Summer Touch (Chris Page) in a 1:52 3/5 mile, equaling the daughter of Arthur Blue Chip's best time. Also making her seasonal debut after a pair of impressive qualifiers, Lady Arthur now owns three wins and earnings of $85,931 after a freshman scorecard of 2-1-1 in ten starts.

Wrenn's filly was head-strong at the start, but he was able to wrestle her briefly into the pocket before moving back to the front just past the quarter-mile marker. Her only challenge came in the stretch when Summer Touch furiously closed ground before running out of room. Smothastenesewisky (Trevor Smith) rallied from far back to pick up the show money.

Dr. Ian Moore trains and co-owns Lady Arthur with partners R G McGroup Ltd. and Serge Savard.

--press release (Miami Valley)--