Scioto set to open 2024 meeting

The draws for the first three cards of the 2024 Eldorado Scioto Downs race meet have been completed, with 16 races scheduled for opening night.

“We had 267 horses in the box for Thursday, so there was quite a bit of shuffling races around and re-writing them for Friday,” explained Jason Roth, Scioto’s director of racing. “We appreciate the horsemen’s support of filling the box and look forward to everyone racing this year.”

Opening night (Thursday, May 9) events include four divisions of the Jerry Knappenberger, three divisions of the Overcomer, and a single division of the Full Count. The latter two events are for colt and filly trotters who are eligible to the Buckeye Stallion Series who did not race in the first leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes.

The Jerry Knappenberger, named after the longtime general manager of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association, is for male pacers who are non-winners of one pari-mutuel race. The races go off as numbers four, seven, 13 and 15. Saddled with the nine-hole in race 13 is the prohibitive 7-5 favorite Who Dey Nation. Coming from the Jim Arledge Jr. barn, the Downbytheseaside gelding earned $38,680 in 10 starts as a 2-year-old and comes off a 1:52.3 effort at Miami Valley in the first leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes.

The Overcomer, for 3-year-old colt trotters, has three divisions, going postward in races one, 10 and 12. The Christi Noble-trained Tom Swifty is listed as the 8-5 favorite in the first division. The Long Tom gelding won the first leg of the Buckeye Stallion Series last week at Miami Valley in 1:56.2.

The sole division of the Full Count, for 3-year-old filly trotters, is headlined by last year’s Ohio Sires Stakes champion Sugar Instead. The Volstead filly won her first start out last week in the Buckeye Stallion Series, timed in 1:55.4, for trainer Virgil Morgan, Jr., who will be looking for his 30th consecutive leading trainer title at Scioto.

First race post time at Scioto Downs is 5:45 p.m.