Indiana’s top three-year-old colt trotters and two-year-old colt pacers wrapped up their preliminary rounds of Indiana Sires Stakes action at Harrah’s Hoosier Park on Thursday evening.
With two divisions for each featured on the evening’s card, the divisional stars padded their division leading point totals and looked primed heading into Indiana’s biggest night of racing. With over $2 million in purses on the line, the Indiana Sires Stakes season will culminate on Friday, October 11 with the annual Hoosier Champions Night.
In the opening division of the stakes action, two-year-old pacing colt Clever Character continued his winning ways and used a gate-to-wire effort to score in 1:53. With Dale Hiteman in the bike, Clever Character left assertively from post nine and stayed game all the way to the wire to record his fourth straight stakes victory.
“He really is getting better with every start,” Hiteman noted. “I think it’s easier on him on the front but he can race any way really—he makes it look easy.”
Trained and owned by Timothy Smith, the gelded son Tellitlikeitis-Ruby Delight has now won six starts and has yet to finish worse than second in eight lifetime starts. With the win, Clever Character now sports a lifetime bankroll of $162,875.
Not to be outdone, Odds On Osiris turned in a decisive performance of his own to capture the second division for the two-year-old colt pacers and deliver as the heavy post time favourite. With driver Peter Wrenn in the bike, Odds On Osiris moved first-over and employed a :25.2 final panel to get the win by two lengths in 1:53.
“He was pretty good tonight,” Wrenn noted. “His blood was off last week and I think he lost a little bit of his edge but he was much better tonight. That was a big effort. I feel pretty good going into next week.”
Trained by Melanie Wrenn, Odds On Osiris sports a 8-5-1-1 record while earning $188,145 in purse earnings this season. The son of Rockin Image-Antigua Hanover is owned by Odds On Racing.
A total of 15 sophomore trotting colts and geldings squared off in two $47,500 divisions. What A Swan and Casey Leonard turned a pocket trip into a 1:55.2 victory in the opening division of the stakes action for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Using a :27 final quarter, What A Swan tracked down Swan On A Mission and John DeLong to get the win by a neck.
Trained by William Crone, What A Swan recorded his fourth win from 18 trips behind the gate this season. Owned by John Barnard, the son of Swan For All-Tanya’s Legacy sent his lifetime purse earnings over the $100,000 mark with the win.
In the second division, Swandre The Giant and David Miller looked every bit the part of a 1-9 favourite as they powered away from the gate and never looked back en route to a 1:54 victory. The Ron Burke trainee used a :26.4 closing kick to get the win by a length and a half over the pocket-sitting Martini Show and Sam Widger and record his second straight stakes victory in doing so.
“I think he gets over this track a little better than other places,” Miller noted after the win. “He’s pretty handy. He gets out, he can rate his own mile and he does his job well.”
With the win, Swandre The Giant recorded his fifth win of the season from 13 outs. With the win, the sophomore son of Swan For All-Adagio pushed his lifetime bankroll to $520,743 for owners Diamond Creek Racing, J&T Silva Stables LLC, and H.A. Taylor.
(Hoosier Park)