Harrah's Hoosier Park played host to a pair of Grade 1 events on Friday, Sept. 18 with local hero Swan Good Bi staying perfect in his career winning the $659,861 Peter Haughton Memorial for two-year-old male trotters and Birr Castle heading a Marcus Melander-trained trifecta in the $671,319 Jim Doherty Memorial for rookie trotting fillies.

In the Haughton, Swan Good Bi left from post four as the 9-2 second choice next to Presidente (Scott Zeron), who was enlisted as the 2-5 favourite. The two left as a team off the wings, with Presidente crossing over in front of Swan Good Bi to take the field of 10 to the opening quarter in a quick :27.1. Zeron grabbed into Presidente on the backstretch, slowing the pace down to a :57.1 half while Dream Shaq (Dexter Dunn) led the outer flow from fourth. Presidente began to get separation around the final turn, opening up by three lengths at three-quarters in 1:25.1 while Swan Good Bi continued to give chase in second.

Turning for home, Swan Good Bi began to eat into the deficit, tipping out for the drive to take aim at Presidente. Gathering steam with a :27.3 final quarter, Swan Good Bi grabbed racetrack despite drifting out in the lane and surged past Presidente to score the victory by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:53.2. Yankee Boss (Tim Tetrick) rallied from the backfield to be third, with Ponda Cheetah (Marcus Miller) rounding out the super at 70-1.

Henry Graber Jr. trains the Grade 1 winning Swan Good Bi, who is six-for-six to begin his career. Ernie Lambright bred the gelded son of Swan For All-Bange Bi, a $42,254 yearling buy at the 2025 Midwest Standardbred Yearling Sale for owners Indiana Stables of Rochester, Indiana, Frank Baldachino of Harvey Cedars, New Jersey, Michael Rosenthal of Las Vegas, Nevada and James Zito of Washington, Pennsylvania. Swan Good Bi now boasts a career bankroll of $451,860 following the career-best effort, with the 1:53.2 clocking matching the track record for two-year-old trotting geldings established in 2021 by Dover In Motion. 

Swan Good Bi paid $11.40 to win.

In the very next race, Birr Castle got the best of a three-way Marcus Melander-trained battle to the wire with Scott Zeron in the sulky in the Jim Doherty Memorial.

Leaving from the inside post as the 3-2 second choice, Birr Castle got away in third while Two Day Hangover (Mattias Melander) quickly crossed over to the cones from the outside and was under fire from Athenas Girl (Dexter Dunn), who pressed on to her outside through a :27.3 first split. Athenas Girl took command moving onto the backstretch, with the Melander trainees in firm control first through third en route to the half in :57.1. Birr Castle tipped off the pylons moving into the final turn, charging into second on the outside while Athenas Girl brought the fillies to three-quarters in 1:26.

Birr Castle raced at the Dunn wheel at the head of the lane while Athenas Girl drifted off the cones allowing Two Day Hangover to advance along the inside. The fillies slugged it out from there, with Birr Castle taking flight in the final stages with a :27.1 last quarter to win by a neck in 1:53.2. Two Day Hangover was up for second along the inside, with Athenas Girl third just a half-length back of the winner.

Birr Castle has won five of her six starts to begin her career, with her lone defeat a runner-up effort in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at Pocono Downs. The Pheasant Hill Farm homebred daughter of Captain Corey-Melania pushed her career earnings to $663,559 following the career-best effort. 

With the win, Birr Castle earned an automatic bid to the Breeders Crown final at Scioto Downs on Friday, Oct. 23 as part of the "Win & You're In" incentive. 

Birr Castle paid $5.20 to win.

Earlier in the program, Dancingdreamer wired the field in an impressive outing to win the $109,375 Hoosier Cup for Indiana-sired three-year-old pacing colts.

Scoring out of the gates from post four for driver Dexter Dunn, Dancingdreamer made quick work of the five-horse field to the first turn in :26.4 with the post-time favourite Swiss Lights (Trace Tetrick) just behind the leader. Dancingdreamer continued to lead to halfway mark in :55.2. Aces And Cinches (Kyle Wilfong) was the first to flinch along the outside, going first-over on the leader from fourth. Dancingdreamer stayed in rhythm at the helm through the three-quarters in 1:23.2. Down the stretch, Aces And Cinches took aim at the leader up the middle with Swiss Lights to his left and What Nooo Waaay (John De Long) on the far outside. Dancingdreamer never gave them another chance as he powered home to the wire with a :25.3 kicker to trip the beam in 1:49 by 2-3/4 lengths. Swiss Lights claimed second, while What Nooo Waaay charged into third over Aces And Cinches.

Trained by Tyler George, the Rockin Image-Docs Diva colt is owned by Indiana's Desyllas Racing, William Beck and Jeffery Eckburg. Now seven-for-19 in his career, Dancingdreamer boosted his lifetime earnings to $477,507.

Live harness racing concludes for the week at Hoosier Park on Saturday, Sept. 19 with a 13-race program set to kick off at 5:30 p.m. Hoosier will be dark on Tuesday, Sept. 22; however, the race office will be busy with the draw of the Grade 2 Caesars Trotting Classic presented by Kountry Lane Standardbreds, which will headline a stakes-laden card on Friday, Sept. 25.

(With files from Hoosier Park)