Owner Dick Finfrock and trainer Mike Polhamus took the horse “Cash Lane” from a green horse to the fastest racing 2year old trotter in the state of Ohio and 14th nationally in 2017.

Richard Finfrock has waited his whole life, or at least since he started racing horses in 1982, to own a horse like his young gelding, Cash Lane.

The two-year-old trotter is making quite a name for himself during his first year in Ohio’s harness racing circuit. On July 18, Cash Lane overcame an oppressively sweltering summer day to win a $20,000 purse by narrowly winning at Columbus’ Scioto Downs in the second leg of four Ohio Sires Stakes (OSS) races. Cash Lane won with a time of 1:56.2, earning valuable points in the series of races created for the best freshman trotting colts in Ohio.

The win puts Cash Lane at No. 4 overall in the OSS point standings, 235 Ohio Trotters were nominated to race in the OSS series. The young trotter is ranked No. 14 nationally and has $23,200 in career earnings. Finfrock says his colt currently has the fastest race time of any 2-year-old trotter in Ohio for 2017. Cash Lane is trained by Mike Polhamus and driven by Kayne Kauffman.

Finfrock purchased Cash Lane, the son of Cash Hall & Winning Colors K, at a sale at the Clark County fairgrounds in the fall of 2016.

“I was looking to buy a trotter, so my trainer and I went looking and we liked the looks of him. Cash Lane was fairly good-sized and seemed to be the straightest colt--his legs weren’t crooked, so we decided to buy him.”

Finfrock says Polhamus has worked with Cash Lane since October and plays a large part in the colt’s success. Polhamus teaches the Cash Lane to race, which includes more than getting the colt into physical shape. Polhamus also trains him to ignore loud noises, sudden movements, and other things that might startle him and interfere with his racing,

For Finfrock, owning a horse like Cash Lane is a dream come true.

“It’s fun to have a nice horse who can run fast...to be able to develop their natural ability to really compete against other horses. He’s not just placing fourth or fifth. It may take up to 100, 500, or even more horses before you get one as nice as Cash Lane. I’ve been (racing) since 1982, and I’ve never had a horse nearly as nice as him.”

Cash Lane will compete in the third leg of the OSS races on Aug. 7 at Northfield Park in Northeast Ohio. He will then return to Scioto Downs on Aug. 24 for the fourth leg of the OSS series. If Cash Lane accumulates enough points he will be invited to race in the OSS final where he will compete for a $250,000 purse. Cash Lane will also be travelling to the historic Little Brown Jug in Delaware, Ohio to compete for a $100,000 purse.

Finfrock is enjoying the ride now, but says he looks forward to seeing what his prize colt has in store once he begins racing as a full-grown 3-year-old, “Cash Lane is just a baby now and still developing, so we don’t race him very hard. But he’s fast and very competitive; and with more training from Polhamus, I look for (Cash Lane) to keep winning and get just get better with age.”

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