Indiana’s finest trotters and pacers will be in the spotlight Saturday, July 10 for Hoosier Champions Night, bringing purse totals to more than $1.1 million
. A total of 14 races have been established featuring six Indiana Sires Stakes finals. The first race will go behind the Todd Nixon starting gate at 5:30 p.m.
Leading driver Peter Wrenn will send two Indiana standouts into the finals Saturday as Earls Glider and Msnaughtybynature lead the way in the three-year-old trotting ranks. Both undefeated in four starts this season, Msnaughtybynature will lead the charge in the 10-horse lineup for Race 6. Drawing post position four, the daughter of Scramble Ranger was Indiana’s Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly Champion last season. She was the overwhelming leader in the point standings for Wrenn and his wife, Melanie, who owns part of the filly with The Kales Company. Msnaughtybynature now has 13 wins in 16 career starts and earnings in excess of $300,000.
Earls Glider, a sophomore son of Earl Of Stormont, will lead a field of 10 to post in the eighth race from Post 1. A purchase at the end of the season last year by the Wrenn family for part-owners Dan and Tom Courtemanche, Earls Glider took a new lifetime mark earlier this season in 1:57. He now possesses more than $134,000 in career earnings.
Iron Claw, Indiana’s Two-Year-Old Pacing Champion from last season, will be one of the favourites in the Indiana Sires Stakes final for three-year-old pacing colts. Slated as the seventh race, the son of Speak will start from Post 5. He is now five for 10 in 2010 for driver-trainer Charlie Conrad. Roselea and Don Conrad, who bred Iron Claw, are the owners along with Charlie’s wife, Sarah.
All three-year-old Indiana Sires Stakes events will go for purses of $200,000, the most in the history of the event. The older horses will race for $100,000 in both the horse and gelding trot and the mares pace. Also, four $30,000 consolation divisions of the three-year-old events will be contested.
In addition to the racing program that features purses totaling $1,215,000, the Indiana Standardbred Breed Development will provide a hat giveaway to racing fans beginning at 4:30 p.m. Hats may be picked up at the Club Centaur Rewards Center located on the Terrace level. Also, racing fans can enter to win a John Deere X360 Lawn Tractor. One lucky fan will be drawn as the winner following the final race of the night at approximately 10 p.m. The patron must be present to win.
Charity Chariots will kick off the events for the evening at 4 p.m. Guests age 12 and older can take a trip around the track prior to the racing program with their favorite Fab Five driver or Challenger Wrenn. Cost for the ride is $20 and is all donated to the drivers’ selected charity. Rides will be provided until 5 p.m.
(Hoosier Park)