Great Seats returned from a stay in the Kentucky Sire Stakes to go a no-holds-barred 1:51.4 mile in the featured $20,548 conditioned pace at Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel on Tuesday, May 14, after having wins stolen from him in his prior two attempts at the class.
Great Seats (Wyatt Avenatti) began at post one and strove to take the lead, but he gave up the lead after the first turn to 4-5 Mistertenahkey (Marvin Luna) and then Mister Hercules (Chad Bell), who moved to a:26.1 first quarter. First time around, Mister Hercules took the lead into the stretch, and Avenatti chose to take Great Seats by storm, shooting them out of third and onto the top before they clicked by a :55.2 half.
After Great Seats narrowly missed the lead, Luna was positioned unfavourably against Mistertenahkey. Luna was forced to start at the backstretch and march up towards the Great Seats. In 1:23.3, he nearly caught up to the leaders. Just as Great Seats shifted into overdrive, Mistertenahkey began to spin in the overland path. After straightening for the beam, Great Seats surged ahead of JD Camden GB (Devon Tharps), who gave chase in second, to win by a growing margin of four lengths. Foalovit (Atlee Bender) finished in fourth place, while Mistertenahkey took third.
Great Seats, a four-year-old gelding by Sweet Lou, has now earned $68,480 for Wyatt and Lane Avenatti after winning his seventh race out of 40 starts. The $7.72 winner is trained by David Avenatti.