Hightstown, NJ – After getting off to a slow start this season, Divine Thing’s recent performances have come much closer to matching her name. The 3-year-old trotting filly has been no worse than second in six of her past seven races, with two of her four wins during that span coming in graded stakes.
On Friday, Divine Thing will go for her third Grade 3 stakes triumph of the year when she faces nine rivals in the $131,500 The Crossroads of America, for sophomore trotting fillies, at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. She will start from post two with Trace Tetrick driving for trainer Steve Carter and is the 5-2 morning-line favorite.
The Crossroads of America is one of four graded stakes Friday at Hoosier, along with the $185,000 Carl Erskine (G2) for 3-year-old trotters, the $172,500 Monument Circle (G2) for 3-year-old male pacers, and the $113,750 USS Indianapolis Memorial (G3) for 3-year-old pacing fillies. The Erskine features On To Norway, who has won 18 consecutive races, while the Monument Circle brings together the winners of two jewels of the Pacing Triple Crown – MGM Grand Messenger Stakes champ Twisted Destiny and Cane Pace victor Captain Optimistic.
Divine Thing heads to The Crossroads of America off a 1:53.4 one-length win over Miracle Maven (The Crossroads of America second choice at 3-1) in a $20,850 division of the Circle City for sophomore trotting fillies this past Friday.
“I think she will be good in there,” said Jay Mossbarger, who owns Divine Thing, adding with a laugh, “This would be a good week for her to be good.”
Last year, Divine Thing won three times in the Kentucky Sire Stakes series and twice in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes on her way to $260,155. She closed her season with a second-place finish behind Yo Tillie in the $100,000 KYSS final at Cumberland Run.
This season, she went off stride in her second start of the campaign, a PASS division at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, and struggled with consistency until notching her first victory of the year with a 1:54.1 score in the $100,000 Moni Maker Stakes (G3) on Aug. 23 at Eldorado Scioto Downs.
“For some reason (at Pocono), she just planted both front feet at the three-quarter pole on the front end,” Mossbarger said about the only break of Divine Thing’s 27-race career. “From that day on, for a month or six weeks, she was not the same horse. We did a lot of different things with her, it wasn’t soundness. We kind of think her lungs were bothering her somewhat. But we got her turned around, and ever since then she has been real good. Stevie has done a good job with this filly for her to come back like she has.”
Following the Moni Maker, Divine Thing won the $50,000 consolation final of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes by 8-1/4 lengths in 1:53 at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows and then captured the $81,400 Buckette (G3) in 1:53.2 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Ohio. Racing her next start without Lasix, she finished sixth in a division of the Bluegrass Stakes at Lexington’s Red Mile. She returned with a second-place finish in a division of the Pegasus Stakes at Hoosier before her Circle City triumph last week.
For her career, the daughter of Greenshoe-A Thing Goin On has won nine races, hit the board an additional 10 times, and earned $421,512. She is the richest daughter of Greenshoe and third richest overall by the stallion, behind Breeders Crown champion Meshuggah and multiple-graded-stakes winner Go Dog Go.
“She’s all trot,” Mossbarger said. “She’s made the one break, and that’s when she stuck her toes in. She’s a very fast horse, she can leave the gate, and she’s very clean gaited.
“I’m very proud to have this filly. We thought about putting her in the Breeders Crown, but she didn’t race good in Lexington. We blame it on (not having) Lasix; she just didn’t have that pop. When she’s feeling good, you can tell. But If I knew that she was going to be as good as she is now, we probably would have gone. I’m not saying we would have beaten Yo Tillie, or anything like that, but I think she could have played with the rest of them.”
In addition to Divine Thing, Mossbarger is among the owners of 3-year-old pacing filly Papi Grad, who is 5-1 on the morning line in the USS Indianapolis. Peter Wrenn will drive the daughter of Papi Rob Hanover-Betterthangraduate for trainer Carter, leaving from post five. Jugette winner Rodeo Drive Deo is the 3-1 favorite for driver David Miller and trainer Ron Burke despite leaving from post nine.
Last year, Papi Grad finished no worse than second in all 10 of her races, winning six including a division of the Bluegrass (G3) over Looksgoodinloulou at The Red Mile. She began this year with a win and a second in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes action but required throat surgery after a seventh-place finish in her next start and missed more than two months. She has made four starts since returning, all in graded stakes, and is searching for her next win.
“She won in 1:50 flat at Pocono (in June) and looked very good,” said Mossbarger, who shares ownership of the filly with TKO Racing Stable and SCPStable&FriedlandRacing. “I thought she was going to have a big 3-year-old year. Then she had to have throat surgery, and she’s been on and off since. I really don’t know what to expect from her on Friday night but she’s a very fast filly.”
Racing begins at 5:30 p.m. at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. For free race Hoosier Park race programs, visit the track’s website.