Burke horse Melillo wins Breeders Crown elimination race
While his name may not be on the tip of 3-year-old colt and gelding pacer harness racing fans’ tongues, it has not been wise to leave Melillo out of the conversation when discussing the biggest races of the division’s favorites this season.
Melillo is trained by Ron Burke, and owned by the Burke Racing Stable, Fredericktown, Melillo, Powell, OH; Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Canonsburg and bred by the same.
He stepped out of the shadows Saturday night at Sciotto Downs to capture the second division of the $25,000 Breeders Crown elimination, defeating Brandon Boulevard, who has been the top performer in the class considering the totality of the season.
Melillo will be joined in next week’s final by stablemate Al Papi, who finished fourth in the first division.
In 2026, Melillo has won five times in 18 starts, been second six times and third three times. He’s finished in the top three 77.8 percent of the time and in his career, he has finished in the top three 26 times out of 32 races (81.3 percent).
But Saturday was all about victory and some of the more ballyhooed 3-year-old pacers – Redland Rocket Man and Beau Jangles failed to advance to the final out of the first division, won by Gentleman’s Club.
In fact, Redland Rocket Man, who won in a world-record 1:46.4 at the Grade 3 Simcoe Stake and easily won the Little Brown Jug shortly after, finished last. It must be a bitter pill for his connections after he was being treated with Nihilator-like reverence throughout the industry since those two victories and being a heavy favorite Saturday.
“Melillo just shows up every week, but that’s kind of a common theme with Ronnie’s horses,” said co-owner Mark Weaver. “He’s not afraid to race him in all the big races. Some of them can handle it, and some of them can’t. Melillo has battled in all the big ones this year, and we got one more to see how he does.
“There’s a lot of assumptions made along the way. I remember they always said there was just the big three early in the year, they talked about Beau Jangles, Brandon Boulevard and Odds on Mr. Mamba, and I was kind of (saying) it’s more than just the big three – that it was and still is a pretty wide-open group. Last year, we had to go up to Canada (Woodbine) to race in the Breeders Crown. That’s a road game for us. This year, we’re at home. You must be able to sustain (performance). We have two good chances. Al Papi was loaded (Saturday). If he had any room, I think he might have won.”
Road to Victory
Once owner-trainer Roger Hammer supplemented 3-year-old filly trotter Little Road with $72,000, sage industry followers figured he had a horse who could win.
Little Road, who has now won 16 races from 25 starts and earned $373,150 in her career, did just that. She paid $9.40 to win.
In Meadows driver Brady Brown’s initial Breeders Crown start, he directed Little Road to the front, going 28.1 in the first quarter.
Victorianas Secret driven by Wrenn Jr. came from third to take the lead. Little Road sat behind the favorite to a :57 half but lost ground in the backstretch when the race quickened with Setyoursightshigh (Dexter Dunn) taking the lead from fourth. Setyoursightshigh reached Victorianas Secret at three-quarters in 1:26.1 and kept pressing the leader through the turn as Little Road waited for the open stretch. Brown moved her inside in the passing lane and scored a half-length win over Setyoursightshigh with Victorianas Secret in third.
A homebred for Hammer, Little Road has earned nearly $300,000 including a victory in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final in early September.
Hammer said Little Road doesn’t usually like the passing lane.
Brown, obviously, took the winning route.
“Once I got her off the rail, I had everybody beat out of there,” Brown said. “I was feeling pretty confident; my nerves were settling down a bit. Don’t get me wrong; I was nervous the whole time scoring down. Turning for home, I was waiting for the passing lane and once the passing lane opened for me, I was very confident then.”