Anderson, IN — Friday night featured fast pacing colts on the 14-race card at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. Two divisions of the freshman pacing colts along with a single division for the 3-year-old colt pacers highlighted the Sept. 16 card as they competed in the penultimate leg of Sire Stakes action before the $250,000 Indiana Sire Stakes Super Finals on Friday (Oct. 14) at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.

Frankie Frankie and Atlee Bender scored a mild 7-1 upset in the $69,000 first division for freshman pacing colts. Dean Gillette Photography.

Frankie Frankie and Atlee Bender would kick off the stakes action on the night, scoring a mild 7-1 upset in the $69,000 first division for freshman pacing colts.

Leaving from post two in the field of nine, Bender would guide Frankie Frankie into the fourth position off the wings of the gate as Hetolditlikeitwas and Peter Wrenn led the field through a :27 opening quarter. Hetolditlikeitwas would lead to the half in :55.1 under pressure from Why Not Now as LeWayne Miller guided him first over at three-quarters in 1:23.2 as Frankie Frankie now trailed the leaders by six lengths in sixth.

The stretch drive would prove to be a cavalry charge to the wire, headed by Frankie Frankie as Bender navigated traffic and fed him racetrack on the grandstand side, surging with a :26.3 final quarter to get up by three-quarters of a length at the wire over Why Not Now in 1:51.1. Henry The Horse and Jimmy Whittemore rallied up the rail to finish in the third position.

Frankie Frankie retuned $17.20 to those who showed their support at the betting windows.

Owned by Rocco Ruffolo, Rick Howles and Bowie Racing, it was the third win in eight career starts for the Erv Miller trainee. Bred by Victory Hill Farm, the gelded son of Tellitlikeitis out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare Myplaceonthebeach has now banked $79,292 in 2022.

The $68,500 second division of stakes action for the 2-year-old pacing colts would go as the 13th race on the evening, where Art It Is would return to his winning ways.

Leaving from the six-hole in the field of eight, driver Sam Widger opted to put Art It Is in the middle of the pack as race favorite J B Gram and Trace Tetrick cut out a :27.3 opening quarter. J B Gram had things his way up the backstretch through a half of :56 before Widger pulled the right line and sent Art It Is first over to engage the leader at three-quarters in 1:24.1.

With nothing between them at the top of the lane, Art It Is and J B Gram slugged it out the length of the Harrah’s Hoosier Park stretch before Art It Is just edged clear with a :26.4 final quarter to score by a half-length over J B Gram in 1:51.2. Strengthfromabove and John De Long completed a Tellitlikeitis sired trifecta.

Trained by Mark P’pool, Art It Is has now picked up three victories in six starts. Bred by Legacy Acres, Art Is Is is sired by Tellitlikeitis and out of the Indiana Sire Stakes winning Dream Work mare JNB N Me. With the victory, Art It Is pushed his bankroll to $104,720 for owners Dolne Farm Services, Therese Defabis and Mark P’pool.

The richest race on the evening came with the $95,500 single division of Indiana Sire Stakes for the sophomore pacing colts where Soaring Now and Joey Putnam scored with authority.

Leaving from the middle of the gate in post four in the compact field of seven, Soaring Now got away fourth as Ponda Warrior and Jimmy Whittemore went to the front in :26.4. Up the backstretch, Rip Wheeler and Brandon Bates popped the pocket to assume command halfway home in :55. Soaring Now began his move on the final turn, still with four lengths to make up on leader Rip Wheeler as he led at the three-quarter pole in 1:22.4.

As the field turned for home, Soaring Now made quick work of that four length gap as he gobbled up ground in the stretch with a powerful :25.3 final quarter to get by Rip Wheeler and hold Sure Thing Herman and Atlee Bender at bay in 1:49.1. Sure Thing Herman would get up for place, with Rip Wheeler finishing third.

It was the fourth win in 10 starts in 2022 and lucky career win number seven for Soaring Now. Owned by James Miller and trained by Aaron Stutzman, Soaring Now went over $200,000 on the season. He now boasts a career bankroll of $259,550. Bred by Luckiana Farm, Soaring Now is by JK Endofanera out of the Mach Three mare Sunflower.

Racing action continues Saturday night at Harrah’s Hoosier Park with a 14-race card, this time featuring the 3-year-old pacing fillies to close out a week of Indiana Sire Stakes action. First post for the Saturday evening card at Harrah’s Hoosier Park is 6:15 p.m. For more information on the 2022 live racing season, guests are encouraged to visit www.harrahshoosierpark.com.