Harrah's Hoosier Park: JK The Great, Dancingdreamer victorious in Indiana Sire Stakes

Rookie pacing colts and geldings took center stage on the 13-race program at Harrah's Hoosier Park on Friday (Aug. 15) with a pair of $66,000 Indiana Sire Stakes splits won by JK The Great and Dancingdreamer.

JK The Great and driver Marcus Miller kicked off the Friday card with a mild 3-1 upset from the outside post six in the first division. Miller hustled JK The Great to the lead from the outside as What Nooo Waaay (John De Long) grabbed the pocket through an opening quarter of 27 seconds. The field remained single-file to the half in 56 1/5 when JK The Great and What Nooo Waaay began to separate from the remainder of the field on the final turn before reaching three-quarters in 1:24 3/5.

What Nooo Waaay popped the pocket turning for home, powering alongside JK The Great as the two began to slug it out in the lane. What Nooo Waaay grabbed a narrow lead at the edge of the toteboard, but JK The Great battled back to regain the advantage on the wire and win by a nose in a career-best 1:51 1/5. 3-2 favorite Swiss Lights (Ricky Macomber Jr.) finished third, 5 3/4 lengths back of the winner.

Trained and co-owned by Erv Miller along with Tanah Merah Farms, JK The Great has now won two of five on the year, with each of those wins coming in his last two tries. The gelded son of JK Endofanera-Bossy Linda now boasts career earnings of $59,725.

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In the second division, Dancingdreamer rebounded from his first career defeat in his last as the 1-9 favorite with trainer Aaron Stutzman in the bike. Leaving from post five, Dancingdreamer was unable to find a seat on the first turn and raced to the outside of Mystical Rock It (Trace Tetrick), who cut the quarter in 27 seconds. Dancingdreamer powered clear on the backstretch, leading to the halfway point in 55 4/5 before carrying a near two length advantage to three-quarters in 1:24 3/5.

Stutzman began to call on Dancingdreamer for more at the top of the lane, with the favorite responding and opening up a 2 1/2 length lead midway through the stretch. From there, Dancingdreamer was a geared-down winner in 1:52 by 1 3/4 lengths over 32-1 shot Fire Inside (Kyle Wilfong), who split horses late to be second over Cowboy Show (LeWayne Miller).

Owned by Desyllas Racing, William Beck and Jeffrey Eckburg, Dancingdreamer has won three of four starts on the year. The son of Rockin Image-Doc's Diva now boasts a career bankroll of $90,250.

Racing continues on Saturday, Aug. 16 at Harrah’s Hoosier Park with a 14-race card set to get underway at 5:30 p.m. (EDT).

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