With an impressive showing by Indiana’s three-year-old trotting fillies last evening at Hoosier Park in stakes action, their male counterparts were not to be outdone in their turn of Indiana Sires Stakes on Thursday evening.

A field of ten sophomore trotting colts lined up behind the gate in the $75,000 Indiana Sires Stakes final and once again, the race left no doubt as to who was the best on this night.

With a seven-race win streak on the line, Homicide Hunter continued his divisional dominance to score impressively in 1:53.4. With regular driver John DeLong in the sulky, Homicide Hunter equaled the track record for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings with the win and remains undefeated in his sophomore campaign.

Starting from the trailing post position ten, Homicide Hunter was unhurried in the early stages of the race to settle along the rail in fifth. Shawnee Valley and Jason Dillander left the gate firing to rattle off splits of :27.1 and :56.4 while Hominy Hill and Trace Tetrick benefitted from a pocket trip.

As the field approached the final turn, DeLong gave Homicide Hunter the green light and he quickly engaged the leader at the three-quarter clocking in 1:26.2. Homicide Hunter reached the lead as the field turned for home and simply sprinted away from the field to cruise on to the wire under a hand drive, winning by five lengths. Bluebird Reverend and Rick Farrington rallied gamely in the stretch but had to settle for second place honours while Hominy Hill rounded out the trifecta. As the overwhelming favourite, Homicide Hunter returned $3.00 at the betting window.

With the victory, Homicide Hunter remains undefeated in Indiana Sires Stakes action in 2015. Owned by Dr. Patrick Graham and trained by Curt Grummel, the homebred son of Mr Cantab-Evening Prayer has now won 11 of 18 lifetime starts.

The stakes action opened up for the evening with the $75,000 Indiana Sires Stakes final for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings. Downthehighwy and Jason Dillander used a well-timed rally to score their second consecutive victory, this time in 1:53.2. Downthehighwy was able to track down the pacesetting Granite and Peter Wrenn before holding off a late charge late in the lane from Matrix of Luck and Tyler Smith to get the win.

The victory was the second of the season from five tries for the son of Dontgetinmyway-Happy Tears and a lifetime best effort. Trained by Robert Taylor, Downthehighwy has now earned $70,375 for his connections at Mack Racing Stables LLC.

(Hoosier Park)