Miami Valley: Winning Ticket leads Beaver-trained trifecta in Hackett Memorial final

Winning Ticket and driver Aaron Merriman never had an anxious moment in the $40,000 championship of the James K. Hackett Memorial, crushing the competition in 1:54. What little competition there was came from the same barn, as trainer Chris Beaver harnessed the top three finishers among the Ohio-sired sophomore colt and gelding trotters. That means 87 percent of the purse will be sent to Beaver and his stable partners.

Merriman sent the heavily-favored winning son of Triumphant Caviar immediately to the lead and never got a serious challenge before pulling away by better than three lengths over stablemates Panzano (Dan Noble) and Tango With Me (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.). Winning Ticket lowered his lifetime record by well over a second with the convincing win and now has six victories in ten career starts. In his only four losses, the fractious gelding made breaks in stride.

Winning Ticket is another in a long list of Triumphant Caviar-sired trotters that have graced the Beaver Stable over the last decade, earning Chris Beaver the nickname "Ohio Trotting Guru."

"It is true that Triumphant Caviar has been very good to me and my owners," Beaver acknowledged in a post-race interview. "But I think the landscape is changing. I've been a staunch supporter of Triumphant Caviar for years, but I think the What The Hill's (whose oldest foals are now 2-year-olds) may be even better. I've got quite a few in training, and I think they are going to shake things up in Ohio."

--press release (Miami Valley)--