Derby and Oaks top Indiana Grand 2021 stakes schedule

Indiana Grand will run 40 stakes worth $3.65 million during its 2021 race meeting, the racino announced in a release Thursday.

During an abbreviated 2020 racing season, Indiana Grand hosted 34 stakes worth $3.2 million.

The stakes schedule tilts heavily toward Indiana-bred and Indiana-sired racing; 26 of the 2021 stakes are of this restricted variety and two more are so-called “sales stakes,” another type of heavily restricted contest.

The Indiana Derby card tops the open-stakes portion of the schedule. Indiana Grand moved the Indiana Derby card to Wednesday from Saturday in 2021, got good results from the shift, and will keep the card on a Wednesday this year. The Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby and five attendant stakes will be run July 7. Also on that program is Indiana Grand’s only other graded race, the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks.

Indiana Grand’s other two six-figure open stakes are the $150,000 Caesars for 3-year-olds and the $150,000 Indiana Grand, both carded at one mile on turf and scheduled for Sept. 8. The track added four open $65,000 races for 2021, two at five furlongs on turf, two at six furlongs on dirt.

Indiana Grand’s 120-day mixed Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse seasons opens April 13.