Championship meet in full swing this weekend at Hoosier Park
October 12, 2017,by Emily Gaskin, for Hoosier Park
Anderson, IN — The 2017 Indiana Sires Stakes season will culminate at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Friday (Oct. 13) with the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Finals. The star-studded 14-race card will showcase the best trotters and pacers in the state of Indiana and provide an exciting conclusion to the 2017 Indiana stakes season. The annual Hoosier Champions Night will be part of a stakes-filled weekend as Grand Circuit racing action also returns to Hoosier Park for the fourth time this season.
With purses in excess of $2 million, the Indiana Sires Stakes Super Night will be the richest night offered in the Indiana Sires Stakes program this season featuring eight $220,000 finals. The 2- and 3-year-olds competing in the Super Finals have accumulated points throughout the season, based on performance in the previous $75,000 finals, and the top point earners have earned the right to seek glory in the $220,000 finals. Complimenting the program will be four divisions for the older competitors.
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Hannelore Hanover is the 1-2 morning line choice in the $70,000 Indiana Sires Stakes final for older trotting mares at Hoosier Park.
Fresh off her record setting performance at The Red Mile, Hannelore Hanover will be back in action in her home state of Indiana in the $70,000 Indiana Sires Stakes final for older trotting mares. With a 1:49.2 victory in the $136,000 Allerage Farms Open Trot at The Red Mile on Saturday, Hannelore Hanover trotted the second fastest mile in harness history and became the first female trotter to ever breach the 1:50 barrier. The world champion and Dan Patch Award winner will start from post six in the field of seven with Ricky Macomber Jr. in the bike.
The $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Finals will start in the second race on the program with a field of ten 2-year-old trotting fillies. O So Easy and driver/trainer/co-owner Verlin Yoder will look to continue their winning ways from post six as the 6-5 morning line choice. The daughter of Swan For All-Ostia Hanover has won her last six outings while bankrolling $217,550 in lifetime purse earnings.
Satin Dancer will also put her own winning streak on the line in the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final for 3-year-old trotting fillies in the 11th race on the program. The Byron Hooley trainee has won her last seven Hoosier Park outings and 20 of 31 lifetime starts. With Ronnie Wrenn Jr. in the bike, Satin Dancer has been installed as the 6-5 morning line choice from post seven.
To complement the evening’s racing action, racing fans will have the opportunity to participate in a special wager offered on the evening’s 14-race card. A $20,000 guaranteed trifecta pool will be available in the $220,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings, slated as the 10th race on the program. The wager has a minimum bet of 50-cents and is available through the cooperative efforts of the United States Trotting Association, Hoosier Park Racing & Casino and the Indiana Standardbred Association.
Along with the live racing action, guests can enter at Trackside Club Centaur from 5-7:59 p.m. for their chance to win a $500 mega bet on the selected race of the evening. Additionally, guests can check in at any promotional kiosk to receive an entry to the $10,000 Winner Takes All giveaway on Nov. 4 as part of the Championship Season programming.
In addition to the Indiana Sires Stakes action, Grand Circuit racing action returns to Hoosier Park this weekend as Thursday’s 14-race card will feature the $73,600 Madison County for 2-year-old filly trotters, the $68,800 Circle City for 3-year-old filly trotters, the $53,800 Madison County for 2-year-old filly pacers and the $50,000 Circle City for 3-year-old filly pacers.
The 12-race card on Saturday will feature $65,000 (est.) Circle City races for 3-year-old male pacers and trotters and $65,000 (est.) Madison County events for 2-year-old male pacers and trotters.
The first race will line-up behind the gate at 6:30 p.m. each night. The stakes filled weekend is part of Hoosier Park’s 2017 Championship Meet, which features a record-breaking $14 million stakes schedule. The 12-week championship stretch, which kicked off on Aug. 11 with the $325,000 Dan Patch Stakes, will offer an unparalleled series of high caliber stakes races, culminating with the Breeders Crown championship races which will come to Hoosier Park for the first time ever on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28.
- O So Easy and Natural Herbie place their talents on display in Indiana Sire Stakes finals (Thursday, October 12, 2017)
They both equaled or established a new Hoosier Park track standard in the same week, are diagonally gaited and hail from the same barn but other than sharing these similarities, Indiana champions O So Easy and Natural Herbie could not be more diametrically opposed to one another. Each horse, one a new arrival on the scene and another who has established his presence over the course of six years, endeavor to enhance their impressive seasons with victories at Hoosier Park on Friday (Oct. 13) when they compete in their respective Indiana Sire Stakes finals in rein to their conditioner, Verlin Yoder.
- Hoosier Park crowns Indiana Sire Stakes champions (Saturday, October 14, 2017)
The top performers in the 2017 Indiana Sires Stakes program converged at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Friday (Oct. 13) for the annual Hoosier Champions Night. With purses topping the $2 million mark, the 14-race card featured the top 10 competitors from each division and provided a fitting conclusion to the 2017 Indiana Sires Stakes season. It was a night primarily ruled by upsets as the post time favorite failed to deliver in five of the eight divisions in the stakes action. The cool October weather didn’t seem to slow the tempo on the track as the evening was also highlighted by a track record and a track record equaling performance.