Harrah's Hoosier Park: Chalky results in Thursday's Indiana Sires Stakes

Three-year-old trotting colts and geldings took center stage at Harrah's Hoosier Park Racing & Casino on Thursday, June 27 with the third leg of Indiana Sires Stakes. A pair of $50,500 splits highlighted the 14-race card, seeing Gruesome Twosome and Dashing Danny deliver as favorites in their respective divisions.

Sent off as the 1-9 favorite in the first division, Gruesome Twosome and driver Daryl Bontrager took back in the early stages from post seven, landing in the seventh position as CS Flying Co-Pilot (Trace Tetrick) flew to the front to lead to the opening quarter in 27 2/5. CS Flying Co-Pilot continued to lead on the backstretch to the halfway point in 57 2/5, while Gruesome Twosome wheeled to the outside from seventh. Guesome Twosome found himself third-over entering the final turn, spotting the leader nearly seven lengths as CS Flying Co-Pilot led to three-quarters in 1:27 4/5 while under pressure from Knowyoucando (Atlee Bender).

CS Flying Co-Pilot jumped it off turning for home, allowing Knowyoucando to inherit the lead at the top of the stretch while Gruesome Twosome began to pick off foes. Musclefantastic (Robert Taylor) stalked Knowyoucando's cover before moving to the lead mid-stretch, but Gruesome Twosome uncorked a vicious 26 1/5 final quarter to blitz to the lead and cross the wire first by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:55 1/5. Musclefantastic finished second and Water Torpedo (Mike Oosting) split horses late to finish third.

Still perfect through his first three starts in 2024, Gruesome Twosome is also trained by Bontrager and he co-owns along with Ira Steinberg. Bred by Merle Yoder, the son of You Know You Do-All Set Lets Go has now banked $75,500 this season and $300,875 lifetime following his ninth career victory in 12 outings.

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In the second division, Dashing Danny and Kyle Wilfong sat closer to the action, grabbing the pocket seat from post three while A Blue Million (Mike Peterson) crossed over to take the field to the first quarter in 28 seconds. The field of seven remained in straight alignment on the backstretch, with A Blue Million leading the way to the half in 56 3/5. On the turn, the lead duo began to separate from the remainder of the field, with Dashing Danny hot on the Mike Peterson helmet at three-quarters in 1:26 2/5.

Dashing Danny popped the pocket spinning for home before quickly going nose-to-nose with A Blue Million at the top of the stretch. From there, Dashing Danny powered home in 27 1/5 to take command, trotting strongly to a 1 1/2 length victory in a lifetime-best time of 1:53 4/5. Flirtinwiththepilot (Pete Wrenn) staged a rally up the passing lane to finish second, and Customer Support (Robert Taylor) finished third.

Trained by Jeff Cullipher, Dashing Danny is now a two-time winner in three starts this season, with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Gruesome Twosome in leg two of the sire stakes. Cullipher owns the gelded son of Dover Dan-Sashay with Pollack Racing LLC. Dashing Danny was bred by Steve Stewart and Black Creek Farm and now sports career earnings of $244,334.

Live racing continues at Harrah's Hoosier Park on Friday, June 28, with a 14-race card highlighted by two divisions of Indiana Sires Stakes for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings. The card will also feature a $10,000 guaranteed pool in the Hoosier High 5 in race 14. First post on Friday is 6:15 p.m.

--press release (Harrah's Hoosier Park)--