Check Six and driver Yannick Gingras closed inside of race leader All Bets Off to prevail in the 24th edition of the $325,000 Dan Patch Stakes featured on Friday night (August 11) at Hoosier Park.
The top two finishers are both trained by Ron Burke and co-owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC and Weaver Bruscemi LLC. William Switala and James Martin also share ownership of the winner.
Check Six overcame his outside post position showing early and late speed in a 1:48.1 career-best performance.
Dr J Hanover (Doug McNair) got the first call leaving from post six, but Check Six fired off the gate from post nine and took command through a :26 first quarter. He then gave way to stablemate All Bets Off (Matt Kakaley), who swept up from fourth.
All Bets Off reached the half in :54.2 while Dealt A Winner (Aaron Merriman) moved first-up with 2-1 favourite McWicked (David Miller) tracking his cover. While All Bets Off fought off Dealt A Winner past three-quarters in 1:21.1, Dr J Hanover broke stride.
Down the stretch, Check Six closed inside of All Bets Off to prevail by a quarter-length, with Rock N Roll World (John De Long), the supplemental entry, also shooting through along the pylons to finish third ahead of the late-rallying McWicked. Dealt A Winner ended up fifth.
Check Six, fresh off an upset victory in the Sam McKee Memorial on Hambletonian Day, paid $13.40 to win as the 5-1 third choice.
"I didn't like it when I saw the sheet come out -- post nine is definitely not the greatest spot -- but my horse has been sharp and he showed again tonight that sharp horses can do great things," said Gingras.
Bred by Vieux Carre Farms, the four-year-old son of Somebeachsomewhere-Southwind Vanna has won three of his 13 starts this year and now boasts 18 wins lifetime with purse earnings over $1.5 million.
Wakizashi Hanover (Tim Tetrick), the Burke-trained Rockin Ron (Ricky Macomber Jr.), Manhattan Beach (Sam Widger), Freaky Feet Pete (Trace Tetrick), and Dr J Hanover completed the field.
On the undercard, the Burke stable's Mykindachip defeated favourite New Talent (Todd Warren) in the $34,000 Gregg Haston Memorial Invitational in 1:50 flat with Ricky Macomber Jr. in the sulky. The eight-year-old Arts Chip-Figmental gelding, a 45-time career winner, is also owned by Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi along with J And T Silva Stables LLC and Lawrence Karr. He paid $13.60 to win.