The top dog is coming to town. Bulldog Hanover, fresh off a superb wire-to-wire performance in the Canadian Pacing Derby, ships to Indiana for Friday's $200,000 Hoosier Park Pacing Derby (race 13). The world champion 4-year-old landed post two against a field of nine rivals and will have regular pilot Dexter Dunn in tow as he begins a fall campaign that promises to be exciting. "We're shipping him in on Thursday," said Jack Darling, trainer and part-owner of the son of Shadow Play. Bulldog Hanover returns to Indiana where in August he captured the $315,000 Dan Patch in what for him was a slow mile timed in just 1:48 1/5. "We're going to go to Dayton next," said Darling, "and then eight days later The Red Mile." With a 1:45 4/5 mile at The Meadowlands making Bulldog Hanover the fastest horse in harness racing history, Darling is hoping that everything aligns properly when he sends the horse to Kentucky in just a few weeks. ► Get FREE Harness Eye PPs, Watch the races LIVE & Bet $50/Get $10 at Hoosier Friday "I think can he go faster," Darling said bluntly, while understanding fully that to do that conditions need to be ideal on the one specific opportunity that Bulldog Hanover will have. There's still the matter of the nine horses that will go up against Bulldog Hanover on Friday and Darling, a longtime veteran conditioner, still approaches the race with obvious caution. "You know what can happen," Darling said of the pitfalls that can occur even when everything points to success. That said Bulldog Hanover has been the dominant force in the older pacing division this year and having landed a good post in Friday's 13th race at Hoosier Park would seem to give driver Dexter Dunn all the tools necessary to put the horse in a good spot. For much of the year Rockyroad Hanover (post seven) has been a serious rival to Bulldog Hanover but the 4-year-old miscued before the start in the Canadian Pacing Derby and lost all chance. Prior that he finished a solid second behind Bulldog Hanover in the 1:45 4/5 world-record mile taken on July 16 in the Haughton at The Meadowlands. Catch The Fire, a 1:46 4/5 winner in a division of the McKee at The Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day, has been idle since and just qualified on September 17 at Scioto Downs in 1:49 3/5 preparing for the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby. Catch The Fire drew the rail and should be forwardly placed. Last year's Dan Patch award winner Allywag Hanover has watched from the sidelines on many occasions this year while ineligible to race but the 5-year-old enters Friday's contest following a rugged third-place finish in the Ewart at Scioto Downs on September 10. Allywag Hanover drew post six. Trainer Ron Burke has three of his charges in the Pacing Derby and This Is The Plan (post eight) is always a threat whenever he's behind the starting gate. The $2.8 million winning 7-year-old was a solid second in the Ewart. Co-featured on the multi-stakes program at Hoosier Park on Friday is the $220,000 Caesars Trotting Classic (race 14) with 10 horses going to post and Cuatro De Julio listed as the 2-1 favorite having landed the pole position. Trainer Greg Wright Jr. will send out last year's Trotter of the Year Jujubee from post seven and the conditioner is hoping for a better effort than we saw in his debut at Scioto Downs on September 2. "Everything went wrong there," Wright said of the race. "I put the wrong shoes on him, and his feet were stinging. We scoped him after the race and there was plenty of mucous." Wright gave Jujubee, a 14-race winner as a 3-year-old in 2021, a few weeks off and was impressed with how he felt in a recent training mile. "I went a fast trip with him last Saturday and he felt back to himself," Wright said. Still with such a limited number of races this year's it's hard to say just where Jujubee will fit against a class of horses that are well seasoned. With Jujubee's regular driver Andrew McCarthy committed to him, Cuatro De Julio saw Yannick Gingras in the bike for the first time on September 10 and the pair made easy work of the field in the $200,000 Charlie Hill Memorial at Scioto Downs. The victory was the second straight for Cuatro De Julio after the 4-year-old son of Trixton had struggled with just one win in his first seven starts this season. The Casears Trotting Classic also marks the return of Bella Bellini to the racing wars against male competition for trainer Richard "Nifty" Norman. "It's been a little tough with her keeping form with the races spread out like they have been over the last six weeks," Norman said. "She's coming into the race in good shape." Bella Bellini last faced the "boys" in the Hambletonian Maturity at The Meadowlands on July 16, a race she also won from the second tier in world-record fashion. Dexter Dunn guides her from post 10 and the pair can follow Cuatro De Julio or any other horse in the first tier at the outset. First post is slated for 6:15 p.m. on Friday night at Hoosier Park with six other stakes races scheduled to go for purses in excess of $100,000 supporting the program.