Prayer Session wins Old Oaken Bucket

Prayer Session finished second to Fusion Man on Sept. 9 at The Red Mile in the $250,000 Kentucky Sires Stakes championship, but on Thursday afternoon at Delaware, Ohio, he was able to turn the stable on his state-sired rival in the $125,800 Old Oaken Bucket for 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters.

 

With Dave Magee in the sulky, Prayer Session left for the lead from post three and led through calls of :28, :56.4 and 1:25.2 before heading into the final turn. Tyler Smith had Fusion Man in pursuit through the bend and down the stretch but the effort fell short as Prayer Session crossed the wire with 2 3/4 lengths to spare in 1:54. The time was a national season's best and just two-fifths of a second off the world record for sophomore gelding trotters on a half-mile track.

 

Prayer Session, who won the 2011 Kentucky Sires Stakes championship but then had to settle for runner-up honors this year, earlier this season won the $100,000 William Connors Memorial Trot at Hazel Park Raceway. Overall, the son of Like A Prayer has won six times in 13 starts this year for earnings of just shy of $300,000. Owned by Dean Miller's DM Stables, Prayer Session is trained by Bobby Brower.