Usher In goes for national best 9th victory

Usher In will attempt to win for the ninth time this year in a mile and 70-yard starter allowance that goes as race 9 on Friday's card at River Downs.

Usher In, who is in a four-way tie for first for most wins in North America this season, will have to get by Longbranch Saloon, who will be shooting for his seventh win of the season.

If Usher In does not succeed, the mare Parthenope might make it a five-way tie for leading winner if she is successful Saturday in a starter allowance for fillies and mares at six furlongs.

* Acts Like a King returns to action Friday in a first-level allowance for statebreds going six furlongs, his first start since finishing seventh in the Noonan Stakes at Beulah in April.

Acts Like a King was one of the leading 2-year-olds during the 2005 River meet when he won the Hoover Stakes and finished third in the Cradle Stakes. Acts Like a King was named the champion accredited Ohio-bred of 2005, which honors a horse that is both sired and bred in Ohio.

* Flip Side, the 2005 champion 3-year-old filly in Ohio, ended a seven-race losing streak last Sunday by taking the featured $19,200 open allowance at a mile and 70 yards by 4 1/2 lengths. The win was Flip Side's first since taking the Queen City Oaks at River last July.