Tuesday March 17 Recap

March 17, 2026

After a 35 degree temperature swing between yesterday and today we were left with a brutal wind, that was aiding the horse down the backside, but turning for home was a completely another story.

The featured race of the 9 race card was the $8,200 Open Pace with 8 starters, the betting public made Hurrikane Jonnyboy the race favorite. Sip of Bourbon lead most of the mile, Rusty Beach enjoyed a pocket trip through fractions of 27.4, 57.4, 1:27.3 to get the win in 1:57.2-$29.78 over Hurrikane Jonnyboy (R. Cushing) Buy In (W. Carter) finished second. Rusty Beach was driven to the win by Thomas Merton for trainer Richard Dunn for his fourth win on the year.

Divine Cosmos and Greg Merton started off the day with his second consecutive win in a 2 length score in 1:58.1 – $9.10 for owner Jay Appelblatt. The 5 year old gelding is trained by Peter Pellegrino.

Aboriginal Bluechip (M. Merton) wasted no time in getting a rookie race record, this afternoon the 3 year old son of Sunshine Beach who was making his first lifetime start for trainer Jared Bako scored in 2:03.3 – $ 9.54. Jason Ricco and Coral Bella surprised everyone, the 40-1 won in 2:01.1 – $82.26 in a tight photo over Vel Miss Taylor.