Sam Eicher calls his homebred Michigan-stakes star Westwinds Yahtzee a blessing, and the breeder/owner is happy for the opportunity to roll the dice with her in Friday’s $464,400 USD Jim Doherty Memorial (Grade 1) for two-year-old female trotters at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.

Westwinds Yahtzee, who has five wins and a second in six races this season with $118,013 earned, heads to the Doherty Memorial off a seven-length victory in her Michigan Sire Stakes championship on Aug. 27. The final was held as part of the Northville Downs meet at the Barry Expo Center in Hastings, and Westwinds Yahtzee’s time of 2:01.4 lowered the fairground’s track record for freshman filly trotters by two seconds and two-fifths. Her wins also include a career-best 2:01.1 score in the Great Lake Stakes, which she captured by 3-3/4 lengths at the Fowlerville Fair in July. 

“It’s a dream come true,” said Eicher when talking about Westwinds Yahtzee’s season. “We didn’t think we would be here when we broke her, but it’s what we shot for. She was kind of flighty as a foal. When we got her going and got her jogging good, she shied from something and hurt her left front. We thought we were out of the picture, but all the x-rays and everything came back 100 per cent. We gave her some time off and now here we are today. It’s unbelievable. We can’t be more blessed.”

Westwinds Yahtzee is a daughter of Eicher’s stallion Celebrity Pegasus out of his mare Keep The Cash. Westwinds Yahtzee’s three-year-old sister, Westwinds Pegasus, also won a Michigan Sire Stakes title and Great Lake Stakes this year. She has won eight of 11 career races, including a career-best 1:57.1 triumph in a conditioned race at Harrah’s Hoosier Park last year at age two.

“In the back of our minds, we thought that [Westwinds Yahtzee] would be all right,” said Eicher. “We were kind of going off her sister and we thought this one was a tick better. And as she’s continued to go, she just keeps getting better and better.”

Westwinds Yahtzee will bring a five-race win streak to the Doherty Memorial.

“We were happy with how she raced in the Sire Stakes,” said Eicher. “The horses that were there that day, she stood right with the best of them, we thought.

“I really like the way she can finish [a race], and you can’t beat her stable manners. Her personality is really good, just awesome.”

Westwinds Yahtzee is trained by LeWayne Miller, who also has served as her driver. In the Doherty, however, Miller will be behind Swan Gracelyn, a filly he also trains and co-owns. Westwinds Yahtzee will have Kyle Wilfong in the sulky and leave from post six. She is 5-1 on the morning line.

“LeWayne has done a heck of a job with her,” said Eicher. “We don’t have any expectations [for Friday], but it will be exciting. It’s an honoir just to be there. We just want to have a good showing with her. Anything that she does special is just a bonus.”

Westwinds Yahtzee is eligible to the Grade 2 Kentuckiana Stallion Management Trot, which will be Sept. 19 at Hoosier, but Eicher will see how the filly does this week before deciding whether to enter that event.

“If she does good, we can put her in the Kentuckiana,” said Eicher. “If not, we’ll probably get her ready for next year.”

As for her Westwinds Yahtzee’s name, it resulted, appropriately, from a game of Yahtzee.

“It just clicked,” said Eicher with a laugh. “We were playing while talking about what to name her, and it was like, Yahtzee, Yahtzee, and it just kind of stuck. We just agreed that was it.”

The morning-line favourite in the Doherty Memorial is Atlantic Summer, at 2-1, for driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. and trainer Ron Burke. The filly was a 1:56 winner in a preliminary leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on July 2 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows and finished third in the PASS championship on Sept. 5 at Harrah’s Philadelphia.

Also on Friday’s card is the $368,950 USD Peter Haughton Memorial (Grade 1) for two-year-old male trotters. Apex, the winner of the New Jersey Sire Stakes and New Jersey Classic for the freshman boys, is the even-money favourite for driver Dexter Dunn and trainer Marcus Melander.

The Haughton and Doherty will offer “Win and You’re In” status for the 2025 Breeders Crown at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The official winner of each race, if Breeders Crown eligible as of June 1, will be eligible to advance directly to their respective final, with no entry fee, and the opportunity to draw for post one through five.

Racing begins at 5:30 p.m. at Hoosier Park. The Doherty Memorial is race nine and the Haughton Memorial is race 11. Click here for free past performances for Friday's card.

(USTA; photo of Westwinds Yahtzee [right] with sister Westwinds Pegasus and Orva Eicher, Sam Eicher’s brother)