My first Breeders Crown was 2010, and that year already had a changing current. For one, the Breeders Crown came to Pocono Downs, a track fairly local to me. For two, all 12 divisions were contested at one track on one night for the first time in Breeders Crown history. For three, I remember previously being introduced to a press box from just outside the Pegasus restaurant in the old Meadowlands building and going from the carpeted open-cubicle setting to a concrete cellar underneath the Pocono grandstand. We got some nice blue windbreakers that year, though. That year also featured a super-mare coming from, of all states, Ohio. With all due respect, my time coming up in the sport was focused on two regions: the tri-state area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and Ontario, Canada. Any of the top horses racing in a given year were bred in one of those places, not Ohio. Yet this Jailhouse Jessie mare named Buck I St Pat became one of the best aged trotting mares of recent record and has since become buried under Breeders Crown trophies won by Ron Burke. But she was his first (in 2009, along with Won The West in the Open Pace). That was back when we called him Ronnie Burke. Now he's Ron Burke, and he's won 18 Breeders Crown trophies, the second-most in the event's history. We started emerging from the aftershock of the 2008 recession, which felt to me like the start of a major schism in our sport. Some of our powerhouse regions - New York and New Jersey - were not firing the same horsepower. The continued uncertainty of whether the Meadowlands Racetrack would exist didn't help the state's breeding program either, almost in-hand on time's arrow with the passing of New Jersey breeding magnate Wild Bill Peretti in 2014. Pennsylvania was still doing okay as was Ontario, the money was good. And the money started to get better in the Midwest. Around when I started in the game in 2010, Midwest casino operations were trying to move full swing. Hoosier's casino opened in 2008. Much later came a grand overhaul of Ohio racing, with the subsidized dollars pouring into the sport with VLTs getting legalized in 2011 by Governor John Kasich, a man I saw speak once at a car museum. So, Ohio said goodbye to Lebanon Raceway and hello to Miami Valley Gaming, goodbye to Raceway Park all the way in Toledo and hello to Dayton Raceway. This was in 2014. Harness racing in the Midwest finally received the investments it needed in the mid-2010s and produced instant results. In 2014, Burke supplemented and won a Breeders Crown final with a filly he campaigned through the Midwest named Sayitall BB, who won at tracks including Balmoral Park and Maywood Park in Illinois (rest in peace) and Harrah's Hoosier Park in Indiana. But 2015 established the Midwest as a returning threat onto the national scene. The 2015 Breeders Crown came to Woodbine Mohawk Park for all 12 events and three of those were won by prides of Indiana. I can't even name one specific one as most memorable. Many people probably forget that Always B Miki was a product of Indiana, and he won his first Breeders Crown in 2015, just one year after he got really angry in his stall and kicked a wall before the 2014 3-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace, resulting in him scratching and then becoming among the comeback miracles of harness racing history. A pair of true Indiana locals also captured Crowns that year. Colors A Virgin, for the ever-present Brian Brown, captured the Mare Pace, but the pride of the late Larry Rheinheimer paid off on his supplemental entry to win in the 3-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace. Freaky Feet Pete also had a little rival by the name of Wiggle It Jiggleit, with whom he'd spar frequently at Harrah's Hoosier Park because Wiggle It Jiggleit was also...Indiana sired, by good ol' Mr Wiggles. This Midwest encroachment on the national scene has just continued year after year. Always B Miki won another Breeders Crown in 2016, and Ron Burke returned to his roots with a transcendent trotting mare in Hannelore Hanover, beating Bee A Magician that year as the 3-5 favorite in the Mare Trot at the Meadowlands. Fittingly, with this region of the sport experiencing a rebirth, the Breeders Crown returned to the Midwest in 2017 at Harrah's Hoosier Park. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Hoosier Park hosting the Breeders Crown marked 22 years since any Breeders Crown event set foot in the Midwest, as well as a disruption to the nearly 10 years Woodbine and the Meadowlands played take-backsies with the event. And the 2017 Breeders Crown wasn't just a celebration for the Midwest, it was advertising. Three Indiana-breds won in Breeders Crown action in 2017 - Hannelore Hanover in the Open Trot, against the boys, Fiftydallarbill in the 2-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot and Beckhams Z Tam in the 3-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace, where he beat Downbytheseaside, who later became a sensational stallion in Ohio. And though wins were not coming for the Midwest in the Breeders Crown the next few years, the investments made in their industries continued to keep them present on the scene. The last few years the Midwest has conjured stakes horses like Catch The Fire - originally for John Ackley, Priceless for Brandon Bates and Monte Miki for the late Mark Evers, who ironically lost in a Breeders Crown drive in 2003 when driving 130-1 shot Art's Chip against fellow Buckeye Ivan Sugg and his trainee No Pan Intended. Oh, and Pebble Beach in 2022 became the first Ohio-sired horse since Buck I St Pat to win a Breeders Crown. So this is an ongoing rebirth to a region nearly lost. Money coming in to support Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky (though not mentioned) is revitalizing a rich history for our sport that was damn near interred. Look well back in Breeders Crown history and you'll see the sport was not ruled by monoliths, but supported by troves of horsepeople spread across the U.S. and Canada. You'll see Illinois horses breaching the threshold (lest we forget Kadabra) and loads of Ohio horsepeople (I hope you're doing well, Bob Glazer) competing for harness racing's biggest prizes. This year's Breeders Crown has many more Midwesterners trying for the trophy. Ohio champ Sugar Instead competes in the 2-Year-Old Filly Trot driven by Ronnie Gillespie for trainer Virgil Morgan Jr., Indiana-bred Noblesville races in the 2-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace for Ron Burke, Dashing Danny and Musclefantastic represent Indiana in the 2-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot, M-M's Dream of Indiana, with Refined and Herculisa of Ohio, race in the Mare Trot, Rose Run Yolanda of Ohio races in the 3-Year-Old Filly Trot, Charleston and McSeaside of Ohio race in the 3-Year-Old Filly Pace, Helpfirstedition of Indiana tries to pay off his supplement in the 3-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Trot, Kobe's Gigi of Indiana races in the Mare Pace, Coach Stefanos of Indiana races in the 3-Year-Old Colt & Gelding Pace, and Bythemissal, with Charlie May and Taurasi of Ohio, race alongside Ponda Warrior of Indiana in the Open Pace. That's a long list of Midwest horses in the Breeders Crown. Expect to see more from the Midwest. The East Coast circuit will always be present, and Ontario is ever strengthening by the year. But the tide is rising from the Midwest, and its presence at this point is known.