Rookie pacing colts took centre stage at Harrah’s Hoosier Park on Friday, Aug. 15 in a pair of $90,411 divisions of the third leg of Indiana Sire Stakes won by JK The Great and Dancingdreamer.
JK The Great and driver Marcus Miller kicked off the Friday card winning the first division from the outside post six. Miller hustled JK The Great to the lead as What Nooo Waaay (John De Long) grabbed the pocket through an opening quarter in :27. The field remained single file to the half in :56.1 when JK The Great and What Nooo Waaay began to separate from the remainder of their rivals on the final turn before reaching three-quarters in 1:24.3.
What Nooo Waaay popped the pocket turning for home, powering alongside JK The Great as the two began to slug it out in the lane. What Nooo Waaay grabbed a narrow lead at the edge of the toteboard when the Erv Miller-trained JK The Great battled back to regain the advantage on the wire and win by a nose in a career best 1:51.1. The 3-2 favourite, Swiss Lights (Ricky Macomber Jr.), finished third, 5-3/4 lengths back of the winner.
Owned by Ervin Miller Stable of Wind Gap, Pennsylvania and Tanah Merah Farms of Weedsport, New York, JK The Great has now won two of his five starts. The gelded son of JK Endofanera-Bossy Linda now boasts career earnings of $81,593.
In the second division, Dancingdreamer rebounded from his first career defeat in his last as the 1-9 favourite with trainer Aaron Stutzman in the bike. Leaving from post five, Dancingdreamer was unable to find a seat on the first turn and raced to the outside of Mystical Rock It (Trace Tetrick), who cut the quarter in :27. Dancingdreamer powered clear on the backstretch, leading to the halfway point in :55.4 before carrying a near two-length advantage to three-quarters in 1:24.3.
Stutzman began to call on Dancingdreamer for more at the top of the lane, with the favourite responding and opening up by 2-1/2 length lead midway through the stretch. From there, Dancingdreamer was a geared down winner in 1:52 by 1-3/4 lengths over 32-1 shot Fire Inside (Kyle Wilfong), who split horses late to be second over Cowboy Show (LeWayne Miller).
Dancingdreamer is now a two-time Indiana Sire Stakes winner and has won three of his four starts overall for Illinois owners Desyllas Racing of Alexander, William Beck of Edinburg and Jeffrey Eckburg of Rockford. The son of Rockin Image-Docs Diva now boasts a career bankroll of $123,014.
Racing continues on Saturday, Aug. 16 at Hoosier Park with a 14-race card set to get underway at 5:30 p.m.
(With files from Hoosier Park; photo of Dancingdreamer winning on Aug. 15)