With the Championship Season well underway, Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino is preparing for the $250,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Finals on Friday, October 16.
Heralded as Hoosier Champions Night, the super finals are the culmination of the Indiana Sires Stakes season, where the top ten point earners of each division will compete for the highest honours in Indiana harness racing.
Each season brings a variety of spectacles from division to division. Fans see the excitement of new two-year-olds, see which three-year-old rivalries are still sharp as well as see how those in the aged ranks make their transition and compete against some more seasoned company. Some of Indiana’s biggest names grabbed Super Final wins, with Freaky Feet Pete and Hannelore Hanover as examples.
One freshman that has caught the crowd’s eye, the betting public’s eye at least, sent off as the post time favourite in seven of eight starts, is two-year-old pacing filly Somethingbeautiful. The daughter of Always A Virgin-Summer N Sand as amassed a bankroll of $179,750 in only eight starts. Her win record may be more impressive, though, as she is undefeated in Indiana Sires Stakes action and only holds one second-place finish in the $200,000 Kentuckiana Stallion Management.
Somethingbeautiful is trained by Delaware native Dylan Davis, who has already earned over $1 million in purses this year. Regular pilot LeWayne Miller is one of the top ten drivers at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Not only is Somethingbeautiful the division’s points leader, she is the only Indiana Sires Stakes competitor entering the Super Finals undefeated in stakes action.
For the freshmen colts, son of JK Endofanera-Kats Treasure, Whats Your Beef, is dominating the standings with a 62-point lead. Kicking off his two-year-old campaign with four straight victories, two of those being sires stakes, he has never finished off the board. He boasts a lifetime bankroll of $113,315, the highest bankroll of the division. The colt’s regular pilot Trace Tetrick has held the leading driver spot at Harrah’s Hoosier Park for the past six straight years.
Brian Brown of Ohio trains Whats Your Beef for owners W J Donovan, Joe Sbrocco, Kirk Nichols and JAF Racing. Even with the win streak broken, the pacer still boasts a record of 9-6-1-2. With a lifetime mark of 1:51:3, he also competes as one of the fastest in his division.
On the trotting side, two-year-old Breckenridge leads the ranks, the runner-up’s score over 60 points behind. Bred by Dan Shelter and Sawgrass Farms, Shetler owns, trains and drives the gelding, steering him to the winner’s circle for five of his eight starts. Breckenridge not only recently surpassed $100,000 in earnings as a freshman, but holds the highest bankroll for his division at $105,882.
Breckenridge recently added another win to his current streak, now holding a four race win streak, all four wins in Indiana Sires Stakes. He’s lowered his lifetime mark in each of his last five starts, the current clocking at 1:55:2. Breckenridge enters the Super Final with a win record 8-5-1-0 for owners Dan Shetler and Dojea Stables.
Three-year-old pacing gelding Odds On Osiris looks to claim back-to-back Super Final wins after a dominant freshman career. Grabbing wins in The Fox Stake and The Madison County at two, the Wrenn team of driver Peter and trainer Melanie kicked off his sophomore career with sights set beyond Indiana. He was victorious in the $250,000 Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park. North of the border, Odds on Osiris was second in the elimination for the $760,000 North America Cup and finished fourth in the final.
Back in action on his home turf, Odds On Osiris immediately picked up a win in the sixth round of stakes action for three-year-old pacing geldings. He holds the highest bankroll for the division by a margin of over $200,000 and has won three of seven of his sophomore starts. Along with earning that impressive $593,675 bankroll for owner Odds On Racing, Odds On Osiris currently holds the two-year-old pacing gelding Harrah’s Hoosier Park track record at 1:53:3. Bred by Merlie Schwartz, the son of Rockin Image-Antigua Hanover shows a lifetime record of 18-11-3-2.
Hoosier Champions is set for Friday, October 16 at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. With $2 million in purses, it will serve as the richest night the Indiana program this season.
(Hoosier Park)