from Indiana Downs
Shelbyville, IN —Pacific Sun Rae and Trace Tetrick put an end to Radar Contact’s winning streak Tuesday, August 30 in the fourth and final round of Indiana Sires Stakes preliminary action. The Panspacificflight-Artha Rae filly halted her counterpart’s streak at 13 with a 1:53.2 upset in the $45,600 first division for sophomore pacers at Indiana Downs. Tetrick would go on to sweep both divisions, guiding Classie Thinker to a 1:54.3 upset victory in the second division.
Starting from post two, Dan Shetler sent heavy favorite Radar Contact to the lead, taking the field to the half in :56.1. Pacific Sun Rae, eighth in the bulky field of 11 at the quarter, joined the outer flow third-over racing up the backside. Radar Contact continued to lead the field through three quarters (1:24.2), but coming out of the final turn, Tetrick and his filly launched their attack. They paced the fastest final quarter of the group, closing in :28.3 to win by a length at the wire. Hootanscoot and Peter Wrenn finished second, followed by Radar Contact.
Bred by Duane Miller, Pacific Sun Rae is owned by trainer Alvin Miller, his son Zachary, and Ted Comerford. The victory was the fourth of the season for the filly and established a new mark for the winner of more than $90,000 in 2011. Sent off at 13-1, Pacific Sun Rae returned $28.20 in the win.
Classie Thinker and Tetrick worked a pocket trip to perfection Tuesday night in the $40,000 second split to earn the filly her fifth win in 10 seasonal starts. After sitting behind favorite Ashleysnflight through fractions of :27.4, :57.2 and 1:26.3, the Western Thinker-Ocean Gigs sophomore grabbed the lead in the stretch and narrowly held off a game Will Panout and Josh Sutton at the line, keeping a neck in front. Ashleysnflight finished third.
Justin Lloyd trains the 3-year-old, owned by James Mason. Stanley Miller bred the filly, a first-time winner in Indiana Sires Stakes action this season.
Surclasser picked up a wire-to-wire victory in Indiana Downs’ top trotting class, winning the $22,000 invitational trot in a time of 1:54.4. The Jailhouse Jesse 4-year-old edged favored Don’t Know Chip by a length and three-quarters. Ricky Macomber Jr steered the winner for Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi.