DAYTON, OH. – Well traveled Secret Threat scored his most impressive harness racing victory of the year Saturday night (Sept. 16) at Hollywood Dayton Raceway winning the $18,500 Open Pace in 1:51.4.

Driver Josh Sutton tucked along the pylons in the early going, allowing five of his foes to battle for position in front of him through a taxing :26.4 first quarter mile. The eventual winner was moved into second-over position in the outer flow by the :54.4 halfway point, then tipped three-wide as the field sped past the 1:23.1 third quarter clocking. Secret Threat collared frontrunning Kolt Power (Chris Page) in deep stretch while 30-1 longshot Nvestment Blue Chip (Jeremy Smith) made a valiant stretch bid that fell just short but yielded a show finish.

It was the fifth win of the season for Secret Threat, a 5-year-old son of Palone Ranger owned and trained by Justin Lloyd.

He now has 26 career tallies in exactly 100 lifetime starts and passes the $250,000 bankroll plateau with this triumph.

A race earlier, Whataboy (Chris Page) and On The Rantan N (Jason Brewer) couldn't be separated by the photo finish camera following a 1:52 mile, producing the fastest dead-heat in the brief four year history of Hollywood Dayton. The $14,000 condition race featured a full field of non-winners of ten races or $75,000 lifetime.

Racing resumes next Friday night (Sept. 22) following a brief respite during Little Brown Jug week in Delaware, Ohio.

Gregg Keidel