Northfield: World, track records tied in Ohio Sires Stakes

The world record for a 3-year-old gelding trotter and the track record for a 2-year-old colt pacer were equaled in Ohio Sires Stakes events on Saturday night at MGM Northfield Park.

John Dutton (Chris Page) led through fractions of 27 1/5, 56 and 1:24 1/5 in the lone $100,000 test for sophomore male trotters and used a 28 1/5 final quarter to seal his win by a length and three-quarters over Black Magic (Aaron Merriman) in 1:52 2/5, matching the world record for the division that Jet Hill set at Northfield earlier this year.

A son of What The Hill bred by Kahrig Racing Stable and Nick Catalano, John Dutton is trained by Ron Burke for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Knox Services Inc., Johnny Yoder and Ras Racing LLC. John Dutton has won ten times from 21 lifetime starts, has now earned $311,356 and paid $5.20 to win as the second choice.

Clever Cody (Merriman) took the lead nearing the 26 4/5 opening quarter in the first $55,000 Ohio Sires Stakes tilt for rookie colt and gelding pacers, and after middle-half panels of 55 4/5 and 1:23 3/5, he kicked home in 27 4/5 to win by a length over Janelle Granny (Jordan Stratton) in 1:51 2/5, tying Heart Of Chewbacca's track record.

Dr. Ian Moore trains Clever Cody, a colt by The Panderosa bred by Marvin Raber, for owner Clever Cody Stable. Clever Cody has four wins and a third in six outings, has pocketed $127,300 and returned $2.60 to win as the favorite.

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In the other contest for the rookie pacing males, Hundred Dollar Man (Montrell Teague) led early but was overtaken by both Rose Run Zane (David Miller) and Midwind Beach Boy (Page) past the 27 2/5 quarter. Midwind Beach Boy would go on to hit the half first in 56 seconds flat, but Hundred Dollar Man was back off the pylons at that marker and forged his way past Midwind Beach Boy coming to the 1:23 4/5 three-quarters.

After Hundred Dollar Man took charge for the second time, that left 20-1 shot Denial (Brett Miller) first-over, but despite losing his cover, Denial kept plugging away on the rim and was able to get up in the stretch to prevail by three-quarters of a length in 1:52 2/5. High On The Hill (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) got second and Hundred Dollar Man faded to third.

It was the maiden-breaking victory for Denial, a gelding from the first crop of Lather Up bred by Billy Walters and Joe McLead. The Virgil Morgan Jr. trainee is owned by Never 2 Late Stable, Joe Sbrocco and John Fodera and has now put away $35,500.