Gordon Waterstone

Lexington, KY — The 2021 Indiana Sires Stakes season gets underway on Friday night (May 21), at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, with 3-year-olds of both gaits and sexes competing over the seven-eighths-mile oval.

Lewayne Miller, who trains his stable of 40 at nearby Pace Setter Farm, will send out a quintet of Sires Stakes starters on Friday, including the male pacers Caption This and JK Going West, who start in separate divisions.

While Caption This already has a win under his belt this year, JK Going West will be making his sophomore debut, starting from post two in the first $35,000 split (race five). The son of JK Endofanera-Southwest had three wins in 13 starts last year, including a career-best 1:51 effort in an INSS contest that led into a 1:51.2 triumph one week later in the $270,000 INSS Super Final.

JK Going West (on the inside) was victorious in this INSS event on Sept. 4, 2020. Dean Gillette Photography.

JK Going West almost gave Miller and owners Bill Beechy and David and Teresa Ferch’s Flying Manes Stable a confetti-flying, season-ending win when he finished fourth by just a length in the $600,000 Breeders Crown 2-year-old Male Pace at Hoosier Park (a victory shared by the dead-heating Perfect Sting and Summa Cum Laude).

“That race really impressed me and showed me what kind of horse he is,” said Miller, who trains and drives his own horses. “I thought he was a good horse but you don’t know until they go up against the best.”

A $12,500 yearling purchase from breeder Silver Linden Farms, JK Going West returned $260,758 to his owners in his freshman campaign. He will get his sophomore season underway after a pair of qualifying victories at Hoosier Park, a 1:55.3 win on May 1 and a 1:52 victory on May 15.

“His first qualifier was kind of so-so and I didn’t quite have him rigged right, but the second qualifier he was very impressive,” said Miller, who has driven more than 1,200 winners, including more than 1,000 alone since 2014.

Miller said JK Going West bulked up only slightly over the winter.

“He grew up a little bit and got a little bit stronger, but he’s still not the tallest horse,” said Miller. “He looks good.”

While JK Going West will continue to compete on the INSS circuit, Miller said plans also call for several open stakes, including the Meadowlands Pace, Little Brown Jug, Breeders Crown and North America Cup. Miller said JK Going West may benefit from the North America Cup being postponed from June to September at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

“The change didn’t affect him a whole lot,” said Miller. “I think it might be better for us because he was late getting ready.”

Miller added he was also looking forward to Swan Diego’s start in the first $49,500 INSS contest for male trotters. Miller and Swan Diego will start from post two in a field that includes the four-for-four Mallard Hanover, last year’s INSS Super Final champ Bridge To Success, and Illini Earl, who has three wins and two seconds in six starts this year. The latter three trotters will line up respectively in the outside posts seven, eight and nine.

Swan Diego is a son of Swan For All out of the mare Lakeview Fest, who captured INSS Super Finals at two and three in 2010 and 2011. After going winless in 11 starts last year, Swan Diego has posted two victories in four starts this year, including a career-best 1:56.2 on April 21.

Bred and owned by Lester Raber, Swan Diego comes into Friday’s race off a fifth-place finish on May 5 after being parked after starting from the outside post nine.

“Swan Diego scoped a little sick on me the last start so we’ve put him on Lasix,” said Miller. “I think he will be very competitive in there.”

A five-time winner in eight starts last year, Country Girl Charm finished the year with $135,375 in earnings. Dean Gillette Photography.

Miller also mentioned Country Girl Charm, who makes her season’s debut in post two in a short six-horse field in the first $47,000 INSS division for filly trotters (he’ll line up in post seven with Dewtiful’s Grace in the $47,500 second split).

A five-time winner in eight starts last year, Country Girl Charm finished second by a neck in the $270,000 Super Final last year. She finished the year with $135,375 in earnings for owners Ryan Raber, L & S Racing, D&S Stable and JW Stable. The daughter of Whom Shall I Fear-Tymal Tatiana has a first and second in a pair of qualifiers this year.

“She was second in her final out of the nine hole parked the whole mile and just got beat,” Miller remembered of that photo-finish loss to Swift Swanda in the rich Super Final. “I think she’ll come back great this year.”

Miller’s stable also includes 15 freshmen as well as one recently-purchased pony.

“I went out and bought a pony for my eight-month old daughter Addison,” said Miller. “So we have one more horse in the barn.”

In all, nine of the 13 races on Friday’s card are INSS events, with the other four restricted to INSS-eligible horses. Post time for the first race is 6:30 p.m. Click here for entries for the program.