Harrah's Hoosier Park: The Ice Dutchess romps in Crossroads of America

The Ice Dutchess came back on a quick turnaround from a third-place finish in the Breeders Crown on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park to win the $120,000 Crossroads of America for 3-year-old filly trotters on Friday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park in 1:53.

Pure Chance (Trace Tetrick) took the lead away from The Ice Dutchess (Yannick Gingras) just before the 27 1/5 opening quarter, but Grand Swan (Lewayne Miller) pushed on on the outside from post eight and cleared to the lead in the backstretch. Grand Swan would go on to reach the half in 56 4/5, with Gingras bringing The Ice Dutchess to the outside in a first-over position on the final bend.

Grand Swan maintained a half-length advantage over The Ice Dutchess at the 1:26 three-quarters, but The Ice Dutchess overtook the leader in upper stretch, then drew away impressively to the wire to win by four lengths. Pure Chance angled out in the lane and out-finished Grand Swan for second, with Aunt Rose (David Miller) fourth and Sensibility (Chris Page) fifth.

"She's just a really nice filly, so there isn't really much we have to do, just pretty much maintain her form," said winning trainer Nancy Johansson. "She does everything that she's really supposed to do for the most part. I think she likes to race like she did today, coming off cover, but she's pretty versatile, and Yannick can probably pretty much do whatever he wants with her. She's won some big races on the front, and she's won some big races from behind, so it doesn't really matter for her.

"She's a nice individual, and she's a very well-bred filly. That doesn't hurt her at all. She has good determination, and she likes to race. I think that's probably the most important thing. She comes out here every time, and she's just happy to do her job."

With the Grand Circuit season quickly winding down, The Ice Dutchess's sophomore campaign is almost complete.

"She has the Matron coming up at Dover, so we'll go there, and then we'll make decisions after that," remarked Johansson.

A daughter of Muscle Hill, The Ice Dutchess is owned by John Floren's Coyote Wynd Farms of Vancouver, British Columbia. This was her 11th career victory, and she has now earned $774,029. She was the even-money favorite and paid $4.20 to win.