Indiana Sire Stakes continued at Harrah’s Hoosier Park on Friday, June 28 with a pair of divisions for three-year-old pacing colts and geldings highlighting the 14-race card. Tellmeitmatters and Rolling Image each delivered as the bettors' choice to claim the victory in their respective divisions in leg three of eight.
Sent off as the 2-5 favourite in the $67,808 first division, 2023 Super Final champion Tellmeitmatters (pictured above) extended his win streak to three on the season.
Leaving from post four, driver John De Long settled Tellmeitmatters in the fourth spot off of the gate while Trace Tetrick hustled Packedwithluck to the lead through the first quarter in :27.
Packedwithluck remained unchallenged to the halfway point in :55.1 before Tellmeitmatters wheeled to the outside entering the final turn. Tellmeitmatters powered to the leader’s wheel at the three-quarter pole as Packedwithluck led to that station in 1:23.3.
Turning for home, Tellmeitmatters took command and surged to the lead by a half-length at the top of the stretch. Noblesville rocketed up the passing lane to make a late bid, but Tellmeitmatters sped to the wire in :26.1 to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:50. Packedwithluck held on to third to round out the trifecta.
Trained by Roger Welch, Tellmeitmatters is now three-for-four in his sophome campaign with the three wins all coming consecutively. The homebred son of Tellitlikeitis-Art Matters is owned by William C. and William P. De Long and has now banked $290,580 for his career.
In the $68,493 second division, 2-5 favourite Rolling Image cross the wire second before being placed first following a pylon violation on the final turn by M Ms Bud.
Starting from the rail, driver Trace Tetrick floated Rolling Image into the fourth position early while Martz Telly (Marvin Luna) grabbed the lead to the quarter in :27.2. The pace slowed on the backstretch as Martz Telly backed things down on the lead to the halfway point in :56.3 with the seven pacers in straight alignment.
Shooting In Place (Atlee Bender) was the first to move from third, rolling first-up with Rolling Image in hot pursuit as Martz Telly led to three-quarters in 1:25.
In the stretch, Jay Cross angled M Ms Bud towards the passing lane while Rolling Image looked to launch off of his cover. M Ms Bud crossed the wire three-quarters of a length in front of Rolling Image in 1:51.3; however, he was deemed to have gone inside multiple pylons on the final turn, resulting in the 11-1 shot being placed second. The victory then belonged to Rolling Image, who had paced home in :26.1 and was awarded the career-best winning time of 1:51.4. Stat That (LeWayne Miller) rallied for third.
The victory was the first for Rolling Image through three starts in his sophomore campaign. Conditioned by leading Hoosier Park trainer Tyler George and owned by John and Robert Esposito along with Greg Samples and T G Stable LLC, the gelded son of Rockin Image-Rolling Delight now sports a career bankroll of $81,403.
Racing continues at Harrah’s Hoosier Park on Saturday, June 29 with a 12-race card, with a lone $95,500 USD division of Indiana Sire Stakes for three-year-old pacing fillies capping off a week of stakes action. The Saturday card is slated to get underway with a first post of 7 p.m.
(Hoosier Park)