Harrah's Hoosier: Catch The Fire scores in thrilling Dan Patch Stakes

Catch The Fire picked up his second Grand Circuit win in less than a week on Friday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park, adding a 1:48 1/5 victory in the $325,000 Dan Patch Stakes for free-for-all pacers to his Hambletonian Day success at the Meadowlands in a Sam McKee Memorial division.

The Dan Patch was action-packed from start to finish. Leaving quickly were Workin Ona Mystery (Todd McCarthy) and Cattlewash (David Miller), with Cattlewash taking over the top spot past a 25 3/5 opening quarter. Catch The Fire (Scott Zeron) settled in fourth and then brushed to the top in the backstretch, but as soon as he took over coming to the 54 1/5 half, he was under siege from a two-wide This Is The Plan (Yannick Gingras).

This Is The Plan became the race's fourth leader early on the final bend, but just like Catch The Fire before him, This Is The Plan faced immediate outside pressure from Backstreet Shadow (Trace Tetrick). This Is The Plan was able to fend off his Ron Burke stablemate to the 1:21 2/5 three-quarters and into the lane, but the race was far from decided.

Through the stretch drive This Is The Plan dug in determinedly and was able to keep horses at bay, including the still trying-hard Backstreet Shadow and a second-over Little Rocket Man (John De Long), who was trying to move up three-wide after ending up second-over behind Backstreet Shadow. However, Zeron, who had waited patiently with Catch The Fire after giving up the lead to This Is The Plan, was able to find a gap between the leader and Backstreet Shadow midway through the lane.

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It was a great duel to the wire, but in the closing yards Catch The Fire was able to forge his way to a narrow advantage, and he hit the wire a neck to the good over 68-1 shot Tellmeaboutit (Mike Oosting), who was airborne on the far outside after racing in last and next-to-last for the first three-quarters of the mile. Backstreet Shadow was a game third ahead of Little Rocket Man and a late-fading This Is The Plan.

"He knows what he has to do out there. The trip worked out good. He didn't leave as quickly as I needed to, but that just shows you how fast they were leaving inside of me," said Zeron. "When I went to make my move to the front, I didn't know if David was on a mission with Cattlewash, but I was lucky enough that I got there. Yannick was right on my back. It kind of put Backstreet Shadow in a bad spot, and it worked out great for me.

"I know there's a passing lane. I kind of saw room to go to the outside. He's a racey horse, so I kind of put him in between horses, and he wanted to go right through them."

A 4-year-old Captaintreacherous horse, Catch The Fire is trained by Todd Luther for owners Black Magic Racing LLC. and CT Stables LLC. Catch The Fire now has a record of 15-5-9 from 39 career starts, and he has earned $1,041,564. The 6-5 favorite, Catch The Fire paid $4.40 to win.

"This horse in phenomenal. I was so excited to add him to the Luther lineup this year," said Greg Luther of Black Magic Racing. "He is an unbelievable fighter. Breeding him this year, racing him this year, there's not many Standardbreds like this. There was a Saturday morning, he bred three mares, and he won in 48 in the evening."

The undercard feature was the $51,000 Gregg Haston Memorial Invitational for older pacers, and 14-1 shot He'zzz A Wise Sky (De Long) prevailed in 1:49 1/5. He brushed to the lead before the 53 3/3 half, got some separtion on the others en route to the 1:21 2/5 three-quarters, and held on determinedly in the lane to win by a neck over Franco Totem N (Oosting). Tivo Hanover (Brandon Bates) came in third.

He'zzz A Wise Sky is a 4-year-old Yankee Skyscaper horse trained by John Filomeno for owner Triple ZZZ Stable. He'zzz A Wise Sky is now a 20-time winner, and he has banked $280,857. He returned $30.40 to win.