Harrah's Hoosier Park: Apex prevails in Peter Haughton Memorial

Apex's Grand Circuit debut was a winning one as he captured Friday night's $368,950 Peter Haughton Memorial for rookie trotting colts and geldings at Harrah's Hoosier Park in 1:53 3/5.

William Wellwood Memorial runner-up Magic Punk (Ake Svanstedt) fired to the point from post six and carved out fractions of 27 2/5, 57 1/5 and 1:26 1/5. Apex (Dexter Dunn) wheeled first-over out of third on the final bend and then was able to get down to the pylons behind Magic Punk in the upper part of the stretch as pocket-sitter Mr Big Spender (Mike Wilder) gapped.

Magic Punk had the jump and was well-rated by Svanstedt, but after Dunn wheeled Apex back to the outside in the lane, he was able to out-foot Magic Punk to the finish line, defeating him by half a length. Mr Big Spender wound up third, followed by locals Hawt Yoga (Ricky Macomber Jr.) and Dan D Man Can (Atlee Bender).

"My horse got out really good. He's gotten better and better this year just managing situations like that. Tonight was a great example of that," Dunn said after the victory. "He took a helmet, he moved out, we dropped back onto Ake's helmet at the top of the straight when he sprinted clear and moved him back over. He couldn't have done it any easier to be honest.

"He's extremely strong. The way he finishes miles off has been impressive, especially his last two or three starts. He's a really good trotter."

Marcus Melander trains Apex, a Walner colt bred by Mission Brief Stable, for owners Jeff Snyder, S R F Stable and Steve Stewart. Apex has five wins, a second and a third from seven efforts, has banked $456,575 and returned $2.80 to win.

"It'll be four weeks in-a-row, so we'll have to decide, Stewart said about racing Apex in the Mohawk Million later this month. "Hopefully he comes out of the race good."

Stewart, who bred Apex as part of Mission Brief Stable, bred the first two Mohawk Million victors in Venerate and Venerable, owned the slot used by Oh Well to win in 2022 and was part owner of last year's champion Maryland.