The opening round of Indiana Sire Stakes highlighted the Wednesday, May 28 program at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino and included four $20,000 divisions for three-year-old filly trotters.
Each filly was aiming to earn a spot in the first of five $75,000 Indiana Sire Stakes finals, slated for June 7 at Hoosier Park.
The two-time Indiana Sire Stakes champion, Andis Alana, looked every bit the part of a 1-5 favourite as she captured the opening division in 1:55.2 and established a new lifetime mark in the process. Driven by LeWayne Miller, Andis Alana was uninvolved early in the race, but used a :27.2 final quarter to score her 10th career victory and remain undefeated in 2014.
Trained by Erv Miller, Andis Alana has now won 10 of 14 lifetime starts and sports a career bankroll of $342,349. The daughter of Swan For All-Its Your Deal has won both of her starts at three and is owned by Paymaq Racing, Greg Gillis, and Harvey Eisman.
In the second split, Terracina As and Trace Tetrick benefitted from a pocket trip to deliver as the 8-5 favourite in 1:57.1. It was the first start in stakes company for the daughter of Allstar Hall-Madeleine It, but third consecutive win.
Swan Yankee and LeWayne Miller dictated fractions of :27.3, :59.4, and 1:29.2 before ever feeling a threat from the rest of the field. As the fillies turned for home, Miss Isolde and Sam Widger came charging from off the pace to take command, but made a costly break in deep stretch. Terracina As inherited the lead and trotted home to win by a length.
Unraced at two, Terracina As is trained by Annette Lorentzon and owned by Acl Stuteri and Kjell Johansson. Terracina As has now won three of five lifetime outings while banking $17,778.
Jessies Song and Tyler Smith followed suit in the third division and scored as the 3-2 favourite in 1:56.3. Overcoming an unfavourable, first-over trip, Jessies Song notched her second win of the season in a lifetime best performance.
Leaving from post two, Jessies Song settled along the rail in fourth while After Jesse dictated first half fractions of :27.4 and :57.4. Peter Wrenn and Jesses Con moved to the front as the field approached the final turn, but Jessies Song quickly engaged the tempo-setter. Putting a nose in front, Jessies Song led her eight rivals past three-quarters in 1:26.4 and fended off all competitors down the lane to win by a length.
Trained by Rick Beinhauer, Jessies Song has now won five of 16 lifetime outings while amassing $86,766 lifetime. The daughter of Jailhouse Jesse-Sasha Hall has won two of four seasonal outings and is owned by Richard and Regina Beinhauer.
In the final division, Kashmir Queen and Andy Shetler bucked the trend by pulling the 15-1 upset to score in 1:58. It was a maiden-breaking win from eight seasonal starts for the daughter of Swan For All-Victory Slide.
Kashmir Queen sat fourth along the rail while Black Swan led through intervals of :28.1, :59.2, and 1:29.1. Kashmir Queen was able to reach the front as the field turned for home and she held off a hard-charging Bankers For All and LeWayne Miller to score the win.
Trained by Doug Rideout, Kashmir Queen has now earned $19,777 for her connections of Alan White, Julie Rideout, and Big Hat Stable LLC.
Indiana Sire Stakes continues at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Thursday, May 29 with four $20,000 divisions for three-year-old trotting colts. Live racing at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino follows a Tuesday through Saturday live racing schedule with a daily post time of 5:15 p.m.
(With files from Hoosier Park)