Harrah's Hoosier Park: Cattlewash, Tall Dark Stranger win Breeders Crown 3YO Colt Pace elims

Cattlewash matched the all-age track record of 1:47 2/5 and Tall Dark Stranger posted his eighth consecutive victory in the pair of $25,000 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Colt Pace eliminations on Saturday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park.

In the first elimination Cattlewash (David Miller) shot through from the pole position to lead the field through stations of 26, 54 1/5, and 1:20 3/5. No Lou Zing (Dexter Dunn) worked out a pocket trip and had dead-aim at the leader through the lane, but Cattlewash just kept finding more, winning by a length and a half. The Greek Freak (Matt Kakaley) checked in third, followed by Save Me A Dance (Joe Bongiorno) and Manticore (Yannick Gingras).

"He's just real sharp right now, and I could tell scoring him down that he felt really good," said Miller. "I was thinking if a lot of them left, I would have raced him a little different, but really only one horse left, so I just kind of let him pace out of there. He felt strong the whole way.

"It's an awful long stretch, and I know that's a really good horse (No Lou Zing), but my horse, he felt strong. We came off the turn, and I never really popped his plugs til past the passing lane, and he had pace still."

Ron Burke trains Cattlewash, a colt by Somebeachsomewhere, for owner/breeder William J. Donovan. Cattlewash now has a record of 8-6-6 from 25 career starts, and he has earned $575,977. He returned $7.80 to win as a 5-2 shot.

The other elimination saw Warrawee Vital (Tim Tetrick) clear Captain Barbossa (Bongiorno) for the top spot passing the 25 4/5 opening quarter, but Tall Dark Stranger (Gingras) brushed from third to first prior to the 54 3/5 half. Tall Dark Stranger backed down the tempo to 1:23 at three-quarters, and like has happened several times this year, Warrawee Vital challenged Tall Dark Stranger through the lane but just couldn't get by, as Tall Dark Stranger won by a quarter of a length in 1:48 4/5. Captain Barbossa wound up third, with Elver Hanover (Chris Page) fourth, and Sandbetweenmytoes (Scott Zeron) fifth.

"He just waits on them a little bit. He used to stress me out early in the year, but now I just trust him. I tried to take it easy on him tonight and let him fight them off in the stretch," said Gingras. "I think last week in Lexington is probably the best start he's ever had. He's super-sharp and I have all the confidence in the world. He's a great, great, great horse.

"(Warrawee Vital) is a very fast horse. I knew maybe if I turned it into a sprint maybe he could give me a good run. He's a very nice horse, but like I said, I trust my horse, and I knew when he got to his bridle, he goes."

Tall Dark Stranger, a Bettor's Delight colt, is trained by Nancy Takter for owners Crawford Farms Racing, Marvin Katz, Caviart Farms, and Howard Taylor. Tall Dark Stranger has now won 19 times from 21 lifetime appearances, and he has pocketed $1,907,695. He paid $2.20 to win as the 1-9 favorite.