Photos by Steven Wright | Greene County News
Smoke One For Me, a local 2-year-old colt, made its race debut during Wednesday’s harness racing program and finished third.
XENIA — The past race statistics in the program for Smoke One For Me at Wednesday’s harness racing event read 0-0-0-0.
It’s because it was the first ever on-track appearance for the horse owned by Norman Rae Racing LLC of Xenia. Trained by Christi Noble and jockeyed by Dan Noble, the 2-year-old colt already has a good showing to its name with a third-place finish in a 1-mile trot second division race for colts and geldings.
Compliments were hastily handed out as Dan Noble returned the horse to the barn area, with several people impressed the horse did so well in its first showing.
No one seems to have any idea how a horse will truly do until it gets out in the pack for the first time.
“Normally we don’t even know,” Dan Noble said of riding a horse for the first time. “We’re usually just looking at the program to see what they’ve done in the past. I just go off a feel and just hope for the best.”
He noted that Smoke One For Me is one of their home breds and he had no expectations for how it would perform. He ended up surprised at the result with the belief it might be one that performs better in a race than it will during training.
“We’re really just hoping that everything is set right and that they mind their manners and everything,” Dan Noble said. “We just want it to go as good as it can be.”
A trifecta win for a $2 bet would have netted the bettor $103.80 for including the horse in a winning 4-1-3 combination during the ninth race.
Favorites mainly prevailed during Wednesday’s 12 races, with two of the longest winning final odds coming in at 4-to-1. Vander Built Beach in the sixth race and Three Ways N in the eighth race, both of which are also locally owned, both would netted more than $10 for a $2 win bet. The eighth also had the highest potential trifecta win posted at $128.60, as well as for exactas at $62.60.
Contact Steven Wright at 937-502-4498 and follow on X (formerly Twitter) @Steven_Wright_.
