Midnight Fantasy wins Austintown Filly Sprint; Diamond Dust takes Noonan

The Louisiana-bred Midnight Fantasy made her first trip outside of her home state a dream one, coasting to a five-length win in the $75,000 Austintown Filly Sprint on Saturday at Mahoning Valley.

Midnight Fantasy ($6.20), a Midnight Lute filly trained by Joe Sharp for Carl Moore, won the first three starts of her career last season. Those included stakes wins sprinting against statebreds in the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie and the Louisiana Futurity. The filly attempted to stretch out this year, finishing second in the Louisiana-bred Premier Night Starlet Stakes going a mile and fourth in the Crescent City Oaks going 1 1/16 miles.

In the Austintown, Midnight Fantasy cut back to a sprint while facing open company for the first time. Jockey Erik Barbaran allowed the filly, who broke from post 2 in the field of 10, to settle into stride early, and she was third after a quarter-mile. She moved up and had taken the lead entering the stretch, clicking off the half-mile in 45.05 seconds, and continued on strongly to widen her advantage to the wire. Midnight Fantasy finished the six furlongs in 1:10.35.

Thunderous Gem finished second, nosing out Into Trouble.

Earlier on the card, Diamond Dust remained perfect in two starts this season as he won the $75,000 Howard B. Noonan Stakes for Ohio-bred 3-year-olds.

The favored Diamond Dust ($3.40) and Gerardo Corrales stalked the pace in second as Ohio Player took the field through a sharp opening quarter of 22.55 seconds. The favorite was still three lengths behind when turning for home but easily reeled in the front-runner once given his cue and won by 2 1/4 lengths going away. He stopped the clock for the six furlongs in 1:12.37. Celtic Line, the longest shot on the board, came on to be second, two lengths clear of Ohio Player.

This was the third career stakes win for Diamond Dust, a Paynter gelding who races as a homebred for the partnership of trainer Tim Hamm's Blazing Meadows Farm and WinStar Farm. His signature victory was a four-length, wire-to-wire score in the Juvenile Stakes on the Best of Ohio showcase program last October.