Perfect Sting can do what’s never been done in Friday’s $600,000 Breeders Crown final for two-year-old male pacers. With a win, the Joe Holloway-trained colt will finish his campaign 10-for-10. In the history of the 'Crown,' none of the 36 male pacers to win a trophy at age two ever finished his rookie season undefeated.
Holloway said the Breeders Crown start at Harrah’s Hoosier Park will be Perfect Sting’s last race of 2020. The colt heads to the final off of a 1:50.4 score in his elimination last week. He defeated Summa Cum Laude by three and three-quarter lengths and his time over a 'sloppy' surface was just a tick off of the track record.
Perfect Sting, pictured victorious in the 2020 Breeders Crown eliminations.
Perfect Sting will start Friday from Post 2 with David Miller in the sulky. He is the 7-5 morning line favourite.
“He just keeps feeling better and better, so that’s a good thing,” said Holloway, a seven-time Breeders Crown winner. “I hope he gets the job done. I think he deserves it because I truly think he’s a great horse. Hopefully, he can show it on Friday.”
Perfect Sting is a son of Always B Miki and out of Shebestingin. Always B Miki, a two-time Breeders Crown Open Pace winner trained by Holloway at ages two and three, shares the record for history’s fastest mile, 1:46. Shebestingin, trained by Holloway throughout her career, was the all-time fastest female pacer until 2019, when Shartin N’s 1:46.4 mile bettered her mark by one-fifth of a second.
In his three starts prior to the Breeders Crown, Perfect Sting won his Kentucky Sire Stakes championship before picking up his first Grand Circuit scores in divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion stakes. He rallied from third in the stretch to win the International Stallion by a head. In his Crown elim, he led in the stretch and extended his advantage by an additional two lengths.
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Perfect Sting (7), pictured getting up to win his division of the 2020 International Stallion Stakes.
“There is something every time,” Holloway said, referring to Perfect Sting’s improvement. “Two starts prior, he ran that horse down; I thought he had an insurmountable lead. His last start, when he was on the front, when David called on him, he was out there going.
“I think he’s learned how to be a racehorse now. He knows what he’s doing now, so I think he’ll do what he has to.”
Southwind Gendry, pictured charging through the wire during his 2020 Breeders Crown elimination.
Perfect Sting’s path to perfection will not be easy. Southwind Gendry won the other Breeders Crown elimination by three lengths over Caviart Lotus in 1:51. He has captured nine of his 11 starts, including his Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship and divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion Stakes. He brings a seven-race win streak to the final.
Southwind Gendry, a son of Always B Miki-Gamblers Passion, is the 8-5 second choice on the morning line, and is set to line up in Post 3 with Yannick Gingras driving for trainer Ron Burke. The final will be the first meeting between Southwind Gendry and Perfect Sting.
“I know he’s been racing well and he’s tough,” Holloway said about Southwind Gendry. “But I think my horse is better. I’m supposed to think that way. They’re supposed to think that way. We’ll find out come Friday.”
Harrah’s Hoosier Park will host the four $600,000 Breeders Crown finals for two-year-olds on Friday. The remaining eight finals, for three-year-olds and older horses, will be contested on Saturday. Racing will begin at 6 p.m. (EDT) both nights.
The 2020 Breeders Crown, presented by the Libfeld-Katz Breeding Partnership, is the 37th edition of the $6 million event. Harrah’s Hoosier Park will provide a free live high-definition streaming of the races on YouTube.
The field for Friday’s Breeders Crown two-year-old colt and gelding pace final appears below.
<(PP - Horse - Driver - Trainer - ML)
1 - JK Going West - LeWayne Miller - LeWayne Miller - 12/1
2 - Perfect Sting - David Miller - Joe Holloway - 7/5
3 - Southwind Gendry - Yannick Gingras - Ron Burke - 8/5
4 - Always A Miki - Dexter Dunn - Nancy Takter - 12/1
5 - Bayfield Beach - Trace Tetrick - Brian Brown - 20/1
6 - Summa Cum Laude - Brian Sears - Ron Burke - 10/1
7 - Abuckabett Hanover - Andrew McCarthy - Tony Alagna - 20/1
8 - Caviart Lotus - Tim Tetrick - Nancy Takter - 15/1
9 - Captains Place - Tyler Smith - John Ackley - 30/1
10 - Literl Lad Hanover - Matt Kakaley - Ron Burke - 20/1
(Literl Lad Hanover will start from the second tier)
(USTA)