by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — With 204 total points she towers over her closest competitor, Lady Julie, by 88 points and is the only horse in all eight Ohio Sire Stakes divisions to capture all four of her Sire Stakes legs, so Crown Time Keeper has definitely earned her 5-2 morning line favoritism for the $200,000 Ohio Sire Stakes championship for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday (Sept. 27) at Scioto Downs.

“I think she’s a little better coming from behind,” said Steve Carter, Crown Time Keeper’s conditioner. “But she has been on the front a lot, too, so she’s a pretty handy horse.”

The daughter of Feelin Friskie and Crowntime Noreturn by Noble Return races as a homebred for Esther Crownover. She is the first foal out of her dam and is the result of four generations of breeding by Crownover, as she also owns her dam, granddam and great-granddam.

As a 2-year-old, Crown Time Keeper compiled a record of 15-5-7-1, earned $48,429 and set a mark of 1:57.3f, which certainly is a fairly rewarding campaign, but in 2014 she has been outstanding with a resume of 14-9-4-0, $128,191 in purse money and a new speed standard of 1:53h.

For Saturday evening’s contest, which is carded as race 11, she will leave from post position nine with regular pilot Chris Page holding the lines.

Brad Conrad photo

Crown Time Keeper has won 14 times in 29 career starts, with earnings of $176,620.

Carter revealed a health condition of sorts was probably affecting the filly in her freshman season, but now that her connections are aware of it, they can manage it effectively.

“When Mrs. Crownover called and asked me if I could train her, of course I said yes,” he said. “She was a small filly even then, but very compact and muscular. Her size, which she is still a medium to small horse, never was a complication but when she was a 2-year-old she had a high liver count.

“This year we are doing a much better job of staying on top of that physical ailment so she feels good body-wise. Her count is still always high and I’ve also seen it coming up more and more in some of my other horses. We give her every product they have out there on the market for it and just don’t race her as much, but she still trains just like every other horse.”

Crown Time Keeper, who collected a portion of her bankroll competing on the fair circuit during both years of her career, added to her sweep of the Ohio Sire Stakes legs with an Ohio Breeders Championship triumph at Delaware on Jug Day.

She is often on the lead in her performances and even has paced :27.2 final quarters over these surfaces. According to Carter, not much really affects the filly or rattles her while doing her work.

“She is really nice to be around and wears no boots,” he said. “But she doesn’t like it when her head is too high and she does tuck her chin in a little bit. She’s really knocked herself good on the head once or twice and that scared me enough to think she might knock herself out. She actually did that right before the State Fair (race on Aug. 2 at Scioto), coming onto the track, and I was concerned but once she was settled down, she went out there to race.”

After her appearance in Saturday evening’s contest, Crown Time Keeper will probably compete several more times in the Buckeye State before heading to the farm.

“I think Mrs. Crownover plans on racing her at Lancaster and maybe a couple of other places,” Carter said. “Then she might just keep her on the farm to breed her.

“Once we got that liver count figured out, she has been a very nice horse to have in the barn.”