Favored Piedi Bianchi and longshot Rebel Bull win Indiana-bred stakes
Piedi Bianchi won the $150,000 Frances Slocum Stakes for Indiana-bred fillies and mares on Tuesday afternoon at Indiana Grand and nobody batted an eye. She paid $3.20 as an odds-on favorite and galloped home a 2 1/2-length winner.
A race later, Rebel Bull won the $150,000 To Much Coffee Stakes by the same margin and horseplayers were doing a double-take at the payoffs. Rebel Bull led all the way at odds of 25-1, paying $53 for a straight win bet, but what really lit the tote were the vertical gimmicks. Huntstown, a 26-1 shot, completed the bottom end of an exacta that paid $1,288.80 per $1 increment. Logical second-choice The Money Dance got third, but the 50-cent trifecta still came back $1,846.30.
Operation Stevie is a late-running sprinter who nevertheless was bet to 17-10 favoritism in this two-turn dirt race, and his closing kick here produced only a sixth-place finish.
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On a drying-out track rated fast, Rebel Bull and jockey Jesus Castanon went a half-mile in a solid 47.48 seconds, but the pair stayed clear throughout the To Much Coffee and never was challenged. Winning time for the one mile 70 yards was 1:43.30. Aaron West trains Rebel Bull for his breeders, the Bone Doctors Stable. The 5-year-old gelding, who won for just the fourth time in 27 starts, is by Flashy Bull and out of the Theatrical mare, Marina.
His 4-year-old half-sister, Marina’s Legacy, had run the race before, but her pace battle in the Frances Slocum produced a fourth-place finish and only served to set the table for New York shipper Piedi Bianchi. The winning 3-year-old was facing older horses but also racing against fellow Indiana-breds for the first time in her career. Ridden by Manny Franco for trainer Todd Pletcher and a partnership of owners, Piedi Bianchi raced last of 10 at the first call but moved up steadily on the outside and won going away. She was timed in 1:44.36 over a track still rated good and was followed home by Expect Indy and Sweet and Wicked.
Piedi Bianchi, winning for the first time this year, is by Overanalyze and out of Adore You, by Tactical Cat.
