Todd McCarthy and Diabolic Hill stalked Big Ranger until the final quarter, then ran him down to win the 3-year-old colts and gelding trot. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
They stuffed Scioto Downs Saturday night to see what some would have called the equivalent of a match race between Apex and Big Ranger in the Breeders Crown. As it turned out, neither matched up to the eventual surprise winner…but what a night of harness racing!
Columbus, OH — For most of the fans who overstuffed the Scioto Downs racing property it was diabolic, with a lower case ‘c.’
Most came to see their local equine superstar, Big Ranger, win a Breeders Crown championship.
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But to them, something diabolic happened.
A speedy colt named Diabolic Hill (with a capital ‘d’), with Todd McCarthy in the bike, chased down Big Ranger in the lane and spoiled everybody’s porridge.
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The Ohio-bred Big Ranger couldn’t satisfy the customers despite operating on his home dirt. Before Saturday night’s race, he had won 10 straight at Scioto Downs.
This $664,500 3-year-old Trot test for Colts and Geldings, was expected to be sort of a match race.
Last month, Big Ranger and Apex finished one-two in the Hambletonian, with Apex winning by a deep breath.
So it figured to be Big Ranger extracting a snoot full of revenge in a bang-bang battle with Apex and the other seven horses were just supporting cast.
Didn’t happen. Not even close. Apex, the bettors second choice, finished so far up the track he never got a positive call from the track announcer.
He finished a much-beaten sixth. And Big Ranger didn’t even finish second. Not only did McCarthy and Diabolic Hill overtake him, but Nix Nacken, guided by Ronnie Wren Jr. nipped Big Ranger at the wire for second, dropping the big colt to third.
Despite Dexter Dunn’s five Breeders Crown wins, the night belonged to Australia’s Todd McCarty who outlasted both Big Ranger and Apex to steal the show.
The night, though, belonged to McCarthy, an aggressive driver despite a slim stature that makes him resemble a ball point pen with a driving helmet on top.
But the man can drive. He knew exactly what to do —stalk behind Big Ranger, stay close, then try to run him down if he can.
McCarthy wasn’t certain he could.
“He is a tough horse to get by,” he said. “But my guy (Diabolic Hill) had been so good leading up to this race.”
He had won only two of his last 10 races, but both wins came on his last two. And now it’s three. . .a big, big three.
“I just knew if I could get a good trip and stay close to him, I had a very good chance,” McCarthy added after his 1:54 mile. “He’s very fast, has a lot of speed, so we got lucky and it kind of worked out tonight.”
He misused lucky. It is called skill and he showed it when he came off the final turn and manuevered his horse past the fading Big Ranger.
As a 2-year-old under driver/trainer Ronnie Gillespie, Big Ranger was unbeaten and was Ohio Horse of the Year.
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But in a controversial move, Big Ranger’s owners, Madison Global of Dundee, Oh., took the beautiful and perfect horse away from Gllispie. They gave him to trainer Annette Lorentzon and driver Tim Tetrick.
After going seven-for-seven during his 2-year-old season, Big Ranger has eight wins in 13 starts this season. But three of those non-winners have come in his last six starts.
Nosed out of a win…despite a strong race and an apparent win in the 6th, Victoriana’s Secret (#2) lost by the nose belonging to Nezuko Kamado S (foreground).
And that included a disappointing sixth three starts ago at the Kentucky Futurity on the Red Mile.
But that’s not meant to take away what McCarthy and Diabolic Hill did. It was special.
“I just had to negotiate a spot early,” he said. “He (Big Ranger) was getting crossed over and I thought I’d just keep him covered up and work my way there.
“I knew he was looking to come back (after Diabolic Hill stuck his nose in front on the final turn), but I knew I’d be following the right horse,” he said of his final chase down the lane.
“It is just nice when everything works out like that,” he added. “I was happy to follow him and I just knew that I’d have a little room and he (Diabolic Hill) would give me a kick. And he did.”
Twin B Joe Fresh was one of Dexter Dunn’s five championship wins at the 2026 Breeders Crown.
And he kicked Big Ranger right into the ‘show’ pool.
While harness racing in general and the Breeders Cup in particular is all about the horses, some drivers are spectacular.
Put Dexter Dunn in that category. With two championship win Friday in the two-day event and three on Saturday, Dunn captured five Breeder’s Cup championships.
That’s one championship shy of his 2024 accumulation. He won six championships at the Meadowlands.
It began in the $700,000 Grade 1 2-year-old pace for colts and geldings.
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And Todd McCarthy had a hand it. McCarthy was the regular driver for two horses in the race, so he had to make a choice.
He chose Starstruck Dreamer over Blazin Lou. Dunn got the ride on Blazin Lou and won.
Dexter Dunn it up right…his sponsor (Gastrobim) you take for heartburn. Dunn dished out plenty to his competitors.
Dunn also steered Seaside Ubeaut home first in the 2-year-old Fillies and Mares Pace.
He was a three-time winner Saturday — the $400,000 Open Mare Trot, the $664,500 3-year-old Colt and Gelding Pace and the $400,000 Open Mare Trot.
The third race, a $600,000 Open Race was harness racing’s version of Instant Replay.
Eight of the nine entries competed against each other October 3 in the Dayton Derby at Dayton Raceway.
On To Norway broke and finished seventh. Super Chapter, with Dexter Dunn in the bike, won the Dayton Derby.
So there was the replay Saturday and not only did On To Norway not break, he won the race with Ron Wrenn Jr. driving and won it in world record time.
“That’s the first time I drove the horse,” said Wrenn. “I knew he was a little funny-gaited, but what a horse, what a mile.”
On To Norway covered that mile in a blur, a world record 1:50 for the $600,000 Open Trot.
Popular Ronnie Wren (above) drove On To Norway an impressive World Record winning time in the third race.
“The fastest mile here, the fastest mile ever. . .and to do it pretty much parked and to go by a world champion and outlast another world champion that was behind me. That just shows how great the horse is.”
He was referring to Hall of Fame drivers Dexter Dunn and Tim Tetrick.
But then in the fourth race, a $400,000 Open Trot, Wrenn suffered the agony of da feet when Miracle Moven broke in the race. Dunn drove Tactical Moni across the finish line first.
In the fifth race, female driver Lauren Tritton and her trainer, Juan Cano, had the shoes removed from Darlin’s Angel and she broke from the wings first-over and took a big bare-footed lead.
But her race was over by the time they hit the grandstand for the first time. She was overtaken by the winner, Miss Jum Jabber, driven by Andrew McCarthy, a brother to Todd McCarthy, the diabolic conqueror of Big Ranger.
What looked to be a record crowd began to fill Scioto Downs as the night progressed, all targeted on the eighth race and Big Ranger vs. Apex – the 2026 harness adaptation of Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral when they met in 1938. What the old folks then call the race or the century.
Slightly different script, of course, in 2026, but certainly the race of the year on standardbred racing’s biggest stage. Only…Diabolic Hill stole the show.
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