Bucchero back with Indiana-breds for Brickyard Stakes repeat bid

Bucchero won the $100,000 Brickyard Stakes by 7 1/2 lengths a year ago, and on paper, at least, looks poised to do something similar in the 2017 edition of the race Wednesday at Indiana Grand.

Bucchero breaks from post 12 in the Brickyard, a six-furlong dirt race for Indiana-bred 3-year-olds and up, but that shouldn’t stop him. Bucchero has rateable speed, and if things go right, jockey Fernando De la Cruz will place him just behind the speed on the run down the backstretch.

It could be a wet run, too, with remnants of Hurricane Irma streaming through the region. Bucchero has raced once on a wet track, but Tim Glyshaw, who trains Bucchero for Ironhorse Racing LLC, said the forecast doesn’t concern him.

“We’ve worked him on an off track there and he’s done fine,” Glyshaw said.

Five-year-old Bucchero, by Kantharos, exits three straight open stakes tries, and most recently took a tough beat finishing second by a neck in the $75,000 Senator Robert Byrd Memorial at Mountaineer. Bucchero’s 98 Beyer Speed Figure from that start stands out in the Brickyard.

“He’s doing really well,” said Glyshaw. “If he runs that last race again, he’s going to be very, very tough to beat.”

Bucchero shows no works since his last start, but Glyshaw said he had a slow half-mile drill in the fog under a relatively heavy exercise rider.

Supreme Justice and Double Tuff, second and third in the William Henry Harrison Stakes on Aug. 23, are the main competition. Bucchero couldn’t race in the Harrison, restricted to horses by Indiana sires, and he is a class above anything behind Supreme Justice and Double Tuff last month. Double Tuff had a somewhat strange trip in the Harrison, only finding his best stride in the final furlong when it was too late to catch Supreme Justice, and perhaps he can turn the tables.

Navarro has live mare

The trainer Jorge Navarro, the dominant force at Monmouth Park, has run horses as far afield as Dubai. On Wednesday, he’ll have his first runner in Indiana when Duchess of Duke contests the $100,000 Merrillville Stakes.

The Merrillville is for Indiana-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs on dirt, and there are a lot of new things going on for Duchess of Duke. The mare makes her first start for Navarro, her first in blinkers, and after 12 races on synthetic surfaces and five on turf, she tries dirt for the first time. And perhaps most important: This is Duchess of Duke’s first start in a race restricted to Indiana-breds.

Duchess of Duke last raced June 23 at Woodbine and has posted five works at Monmouth since being transferred to Navarro. The work pattern is encouraging, and Navarro has won with a remarkable 10 of his last 22 starters racing for the first time in blinkers. Duchess of Duke is listed at 6-1 on the track’s morning line but figures to go off a far shorter price.

The connections of Joyous Lady can’t be pleased to see the new face. Joyous Lady on Aug. 23 won the Shelby County Stakes for Indiana-sired fillies and mares for the second year in a row, and she finished second last summer in the Merrillville.

Mogge loaded with 2-year-olds

It will be no surprise if trainer Wayne Mogge sweeps the two $100,000 stakes for Indiana-bred 2-year-olds on the Wednesday card.

Mogge looks especially formidable in the Hillsdale, where he not only starts morning-line even-money favorite Its Just Fate, but also sends out a second talented juvenile, Promising Drive.

Its Just Fate, a gelding by Skylord, won his debut June 24 by 3 3/4 lengths at Indiana Downs, then stretched from five to six furlongs, the Hillsdale’s distance, and won a first-level allowance race by five there. Its Just Fate, who will have Rodney Prescott aboard, never has been headed, and beat open company in both races.

Promising Drive, whose two starts came in statebred-restricted competition, finished solidly for third after a poor break in his debut, and won second out by more than 10 lengths.

The Mogge-trained filly in the six-furlong City of Anderson is named Ideal Sky, and, priced at 8-1 on the morning line, she might have more betting appeal than short-priced favorite Its Just Fate. Ideal Sky got only a 49 Beyer Speed Figure for her lone race, but she won an Indiana-bred maiden race on Aug. 9 by more than five lengths without ever being asked, and looked like she had more to give.

Obsolete, Ever Wonder, Ella T, Shesmischievous, and even Bibbidibobbidi Boo all look like plausible winners in what appears to be a contentious race.