Hoosier Set For Champions Night
The 2016 Indiana Sires Stakes program will culminate at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Saturday, Oct. 15 with the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Finals. The star-studded 14-race card will showcase the best trotters and pacers in the state of Indiana and provide an exciting conclusion to the 2016 Indiana stakes season.
With purses in excess of $2 million, the Indiana Sires Stakes Super night will be the richest night offered in the Indiana Sires Stakes program this season featuring eight $220,000 finals. The two and three-year-olds competing in the Super finals have accumulated points throughout the season, based on performance in the previous $75,000 finals, and the top point earners have earned the right to seek glory in the $220,000 finals. Complimenting the program will be four divisions for the aged competitors, each carrying a purse of $50,000.
The $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Finals will start in the third race on the program with a field of ten three-year-old trotting fillies. Fawn De Savage and driver, trainer Dan Shetler have been enlisted as the 5-2 morning line choice and will start from post five. The daughter of Keystone Savage-Ms Mastercraft has won seven of 18 starts while bankrolling $133,109 this season.
The sophomore pacing filly sensation Seventimesavirgin will put her eight-race winning streak on the line facing nine other rivals in the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final for three-year-old pacing fillies. Trained and driven by John DeLong, the daughter of Always A Virgin-Mrs Grant Seven is undefeated in stakes action this season and will start from post three as the 4-5 morning line choice.
Driver John DeLong will also look to keep a winning streak alive with Bridge To Jesses who looks to notch his seventh consecutive victory in the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Slated as the eleventh race on the 14-race card, Bridge To Jesses will start from post eight as the even money morning line favourite for trainer Roger Welch.
The $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final for three-year-old pacing colts has been slated as the 13th race on the program and will provide an exciting conclusion to the evening’s stakes action. Granite and driver Mike Peterson will look to score their second consecutive stakes victory against this group from post six for trainer Melanie Wrenn. The last time the sophomore pacing colts met behind the starting gate in stakes action, Granite pulled a 44-1 upset in the fifth and final $75,000 preliminary stakes final in September at Hoosier Park.
“Hoosier Champions Super Finals Night has become a hallmark of the Hoosier Park racing season,” Hoosier Park’s vice president and general manager or racing, Rick Moore noted. “It is with pride that we showcase the crème de la crème of Indiana Sired horses to the rest of the country and beyond. Who knows, several of these Indiana phenoms may soon follow in the footsteps of Wiggle It Jiggleit, Always B Miki, Freaky Feet Pete and Hannelore Hanover.”
In addition to all of the exciting races on the track, there will be a multitude of activities for racing fans to enjoy off the track as well. Hoosier Park and the Indiana Standardbred Association (ISA) have once again partnered to offer numerous giveaways and live entertainment throughout the evening.
The annual Harvest Fest will celebrate the Fall season with annual favourites including an Antique Tractor Show, free hot buttered sweet corn, candy apples, a zip line, and free family activities. Free pumpkins and pumpkin painting will also be available while supplies last.
Plus, racing fans can feast on Fall favourites including roasted butternut squash soup in the Homestretch Steakhouse, fresh harvest dishes in the Prime Harvest buffet and the season’s best craft beers in the Dan Patch Brew House.
The first race will line-up behind the gate at 5:45 p.m. The live racing schedule at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino will follow a Tuesday through Saturday schedule and be conducted through Nov. 12.
(Hoosier Park)