In his second Legends Day appearance, David Miller found a path to the Clinton Raceway winner's enclosure via a pocket trip with Dominum Deo ($9.00) in the biannual Legends Day Invitational Trot, contested Sunday afternoon (June 23).
The Ohio native, who finished second to Steve Condren in the 2017 Legends Day Trot, secured a pocket ride for Dominum Deo behind 6-5 Nebraska Jack (Wally Hennessey) in this year's installment. After enjoying clear sailing through most of a :29 first quarter, Dominum Deo became boxed through the middle stages as Azucar (Doug Brown) sustained a first-over strike on Nebraska Jack through splits of :59.2 and 1:29.4.
Azucar headed Nebraska Jack nearing the final turn, but the public choice battled back to lead by a length at head-stretch, with Lets Leavem (Trevor Ritchie) swinging three-wide off the home turn. Shortly upon cornering for home, the pegs opened up for Dominum Deo, and he rallied to just collar a game Azucar by a neck in 1:59.2. Lets Leavem, a half length back, finished third.
The win was Dominum Deo's sixth this season for owner Allan Kuepfer and trainer Mary Paulic, and the 21st of his career.
Legends Day served as a fundraiser for the Clinton Public Hospital Foundation. Previous editions of Legends Day have raised more than $210,000 for the foundation. The amount raised in 2019 is still being tabulated and finalized.
A quintet of Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots events for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings were also contested at the lakeside oval on Sunday afternoon, and Zorgwijk Tim ($10.80) delivered a track-record performance to lead the undercard events.
The son of Angus Hall was perched second-over in rein to Robert Shepherd on approach to the far turn before pacesetter Archway (Scott Young) broke in upper stretch and caused interference to the front flight. Zorgwijk Tim ($10.80) was able to scoot clear by 6-1/4 lengths off the cover of Royale Elite (Jonathan Drury) to win in 1:58.1, over a full second better than Northern Escort's previous track record. Lyle MacArthur trains the four-time winner for Linda Wellwood, Tammy Aspden and Anna Ruijs.
Zorgwijk Tim led Sunday afternoon's OSS action at Clinton Raceway with a track-record performance.
Red Hot Torch ($12.10, Drury, 2:02), Gold Edition ($11.20, Alfie Carroll, 1:59.3), Debt Collector ($5.10, Travis Henry, 2:01.3) and Raising Royalty ($5.50, Sylvain Filion, 2:01) were the other Grassroots winners on the afternoon's 12-race card.
To view Sunday's harness racing results, click the following link: Sunday Results – Clinton Raceway.