Harrah's Hoosier Park: Don't Let'em posts track record time in Carl Erskine

Don't Let'em is quite good when he keeps his mind on business, and he demonstrated that again in Friday night's $220,000 Carl Erskine for 3-year-old male trotters at Harrah's Hoosier Park as he won in a track record clocking of 1:51 4/5.

Mass Fortune K (Matt Kakaley) fired away nicely from post seven and showed the way early, but Yannick Gingras had Don't Let'em two-wide and challenging for the lead at the 27 4/5 opening quarter. Don't Let'em cleared past that point, then hooked up with a parked-out and moving up Pilot Discretion (Andrew McCarthy).

Gingras and Don't Let'em gave Pilot Discretion the cold shoulder in the backstretch and to the 55 1/5 half, but Pilot Discretion was able to scramble into the pocket past that point as Mass Fortune K began to drop back. Chin Chin Hall (Peter Wrenn) then took up the chase two-wide from fourth, but he was still over two lengths behind Don't Let'em as three-quarters went on the board in 1:23 2/5.

In the stretch Don't Let'em didn't give Chin Chin Hall a chance to get any closer as he put it into another gear that nobody else could match, pulling away to win by five lengths. Chin Chin Hall did end up second, with Pilot Discretion holding third. Yes (Mike Oosting) got fourth, and Lucky Weekend (John De Long) finished fifth.

"He's going to drive me absolutely crazy, this horse, because he either wins or he runs, and there's nothing really I can do about it," said victorious trainer Nancy Johansson. "It's just whichever mood I guess he's in. We actually warm him up with an open bridle and he races with a closed bridle, and he wears two headpoles to warm up and no headpoles to race, so really when you warm him up, you're not remotely warming him up how he's going to race. We just try to keep him quiet during the warm up and kind of somehwat focused and then hope that he behaves.

"He's got tremendous, tremendous speed. He was fast already as a 2-year-old. He won the Peter Haughton in 51 and a piece, and he's trotted in 1:50 2/5, I think, this year. He's got the speed and the talent, it's just that he just needs to behave. Maybe if he matures a little bit, it'll come with age, hopefully, but if not, he's just fast. He's really fast."

Like stablemate The Ice Dutchess, who won a stakes event earlier on the card, Don't Let'em also has another race left on his docket for 2019, with a return to action as a 4-year-old not out of the question.

"He also has the Matron, and he'll go there most likely, and then I guess we'll have to make a decision if he's going to race next year, or if he's going to go stand stud somewhere," stated Johansson. "That hasn't been decided yet."

A Muscle Hill colt, Don't Let'em is co-owned by breeder Brittany Farms LLC. along with Christina Takter, John Fielding, and Herb Liverman. This was Don't Let'em's eighth career win, and he has now pocketed $569,967. The 4-5 favorite, Don't Let'em paid $3.80 to win.