After missing a number of this year’s major stakes events due to an injury, O’Brien Award winner Il Villaggio is scheduled to make his long awaited return to the races on Saturday evening
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The Blair Burgess trainee will be part of an $800,000 program at Indiana Downs, The 14-race card is headlined by the $200,000 Oliver Trotting Classic for three-year-old colts and the $190,000 Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stake for freshman filly pacers. Other featured stakes include The Elevation for two-year-old pacing colts, the Pride In Progress for free-for-all trotters and the Circle City for sophomore colt pacers.
Il Villaggio, a winner of $488,183 last season, headlines the Oliver Trotting Classic. Mike Lachance will driver the son of Yankee Glide, who has drawn post seven in the 10-horse field.
After going 6-for-8 in what was an impressive rookie season, the colt has just a pair of qualifying efforts on his card this season. He was second and race timed in 1:56.2 at Mohawk on the morning of September 10, and he came back seven days later and was a solid winner by 14-1/4 lengths in 1:55.4
Also entered in the Oliver Trotting Classic is Cantab Hall colt Baximum. Second to Lucky Chucky in the Zweig, this Jonas Czernyson pupil has won four of 15 starts, and has drawn the rail in the evening’s 10th race. Joining Il Villaggio and Baximum are Pretty Boy Lindy, winner of the Townsend Ackerman, Kentucky Sire Stakes runner-up Onmyagame, Indiana Sires Stakes champion Earl’s Glider and Su Mac Lad victor Powerful Speed.
Modern Connection, a narrow winner at Mohawk in her $90,000 Champlain Stakes division, heads a group of 12 fillies contesting Saturday’s Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stake. Trained by Joe Seekman, the Modern Art lass has drawn the rail. Three times a winner this season, Modern Connection has earned $212,797 racing north of the border.
In Deep Thought, another top filly in the field, will line up directly behind Modern Connection in post position 10. The Ponder freshman has hit the board in seven of eight starts, winning four times for trainer Robert Reeser while banking $164,705. Tim Curtin steered In Deep Thought to a four and one-quarter length win at Indiana Downs in last week’s $50,000 Circle City and is set to drive once again. So Perfect, a third-place finisher in the Champlain, and Mystical MJ, a 1:54.1 winner earlier this season, have also drawn into the race, carded as the 9th on the program.
The Elevation will feature two $75,000 divisions for freshman pacing colts. The first $75,000 split, the fourth race on the program, features a solid group of eight two year olds. Mystic Desire, coming off a third-place effort in the $200,000 P.A.S.S. final at Chester Downs, has drawn the rail. Trained by Justin Lloyd, the Real Desire colt, a winner of $113,775 this season, has drawn the rail. Jate ODel, a $35,000 Circle City division winner for trainer Henry Lunsford, will line up behind the gate sixth. Best Man Hanover and Georges ZTam, second and third-place finishers to Jate ODel last week at Indiana Downs, are slotted in posts two and four.
Mr Bedrock, nipped at the wire in the $265,000 Orange and Blue his last time out, has drawn the outside post in the $75,000 second division. Trained by Robert Taylor for Mack Racing Stables LLC, the Richess Hanover colt has won four times and possesses earnings of $85,865. Playin For Keeps, yet to finish off the board in 10 career starts, lines up behind the gate in post eight. Showing the fastest mark of the field with a 1:52.1 win, the Nick Giberson trainee finished third in the Orange and Blue final. The Sawgrass Farms-owned duo of Four Starzzz Z and Fox Stake winner Con Game will start from post positions four and six.
Cole Muffler sophomore Iam Bonasera, fresh off an impressive 1:49.3 triumph in the $173,000 Pete Langley at Balmoral Park, leads the list of 17 colts set to compete in Saturday’s Circle City. From the powerful Erv Miller stable, Iam Bonasera will look to add to his $172,375 in seasonal earnings in one of two $35,000 divisions. Miller will send out Power Of A Moment, third to Iam Bonasera in the Langley, in the other Circle City split. Trainer Ron Burke will send out four starts with Fishers Character, Lap Hanover and Royal Woods, and Pete Langley runner-up Voomerang.
The $100,000 Pride In Progress free-for-all trot, new this year on the Indiana Downs stakes schedule, has attracted a compact field of six. Hot Shot Blue Chip, third to Lucky Jim and Buck I St Pat in the $195,000 Credit Winner at Vernon Downs, will line up in post four with David Miller in the bike. To his outside are top Indiana trotter ABC Mercedes and Triumphant Caviar, fifth in the Maple Leaf earlier this year. Rembrandt Spur, a top handicap trotter from The Meadows, has drawn the rail.
(Indiana Downs)