Miami Valley: Heart Of Chewbacca roars home in James K. Hackett Memorial

Heart Of Chewbacca took over command after a wicked third quarter duel with Charlie May and went on to a 5 3/4 length victory in Saturday afternoon's $40,000 James K. Hackett Memorial final for 3-year-old Ohio-sired pacing colts and geldings at Miami Valley Raceway. The final time was 1:51 1/5.

Charlie May (Brett Miller), who beat Heart Of Chewbacca in one of last week's two eliminations, left strongly from the outside post eight and was able to get to the top before the 27 4/5 opening quarter. Miller then put on the brakes, reaching the half in just 58 seconds. Heart Of Chewbacca (Dan Noble) was out and moving first-over from third prior to that marker, though, and the paced quickened in earnest as Charlie May and Heart Of Chewbacca locked horns.

It would be a tooth-and-nail, cutthroat, all-out battle between Heart Of Chewbacca and Charlie May once it began, and the teletimer indicated what an tussle it was as the third quarter rang up in an incredible 25 2/5. The two horses continued to throw down past that pole, but then Charlie May suddenly rolled into a break and went into the safety lane, leaving Heart Of Chewbacca on a loose lead.

Once Heart Of Chewbacca was in command, Laughagain Hanover (Kayne Kauffman) tried to take up the chase, but it was to no avail as Heart Of Chewbacca still had a 27 4/5 kicker left him in, and Heart Of Chewbacca went on to the victory. Laughagain Hanover did end up second over Just Playing (Josh Sutton).

A colt by Bring On The Beach, Heart Of Chewbacca is trained by Ron Burke for owners Dennis Owens and Norman Rae Racing LLC. This was his sixth win from nine career starts, and he has now earned $219,348. He was the 8-5 second choice and paid $5.20 to win.