Harrah's Hoosier Park: Party Girl Hill, Lyons Sentinel deliver in Breeders Crown elims

Big final quarters propelled Party Girl Hill and Lyons Sentinel to victories in the two $25,000 Breeders Crown 3-Year-Old Filly Pace eliminations on Friday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park.

Peaky Sneaky (Yannick Gingras) zipped an opening quarter in 25 4/5 in the first elimination, but then the pace slowed dramatically into the wind, with the half up on the board in just 56 3/5. Party Girl Hill (Dexter Dunn), who watched that from third, came first-over past the half, but she still had some work to do on the rim as Peaky Sneaky rolled through three-quarters in 1:24 3/5.

The sprint was on in the lane off that 58 4/5 middle-half, and though Peaky Sneaky had the jump, Party Girl Hill had the fleetest feet as she surged by the pace-setter with a 25 1/5 final panel on her way to a 1:50 1/5 win, her 14th straight to start her career. Peaky Sneaky held second over Drama Act (Matt Kakaley), with Rocknificent (Scott Zeron) fourth and Pettycoat Business (Trace Tetrick) fifth.

"She's got class, she's got speed, she can sprint, and she can relax," said winning trainer Chris Ryder. "She's a phenomenal filly. It's tough to watch a race like that tonight, all credit to Dexter, but Dexter and I know it's all the horse. I feel confident, absolutely. I've been here with some tremendous horses and gotten beat down by the wire, so maybe it takes a Party Girl Hill for me to go and win a Breeders Crown here, but I'd love to.

"She only has the Matron left, but we haven't really talked about it. I've just been concentrating on this week."

Ryder trains Party Girl Hill, a daughter of Captaintreacherous, for owner/breeder Tom Hill. Party Girl Hill has earned $749,120 to go with her undefeated status and returned $2.20 to win as the 1-9 favorite.

The other elimination saw Hen Party (Andrew McCarthy) press on past Pricless (Andy Miller) beyond a 25 2/5 first quarter, but Priceless, coming off a win in the Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final, didn't want the pocket and re-moved to the top before the 55 2/5 half. Priceless remained in charge at the 1:23 3/5 three-quarters, but Baby Your The Best (David Miller) was gaining from first-up, towing JK First Lady (Gingras) and Lyons Sentinel (Tim Tetrick) into the race from second-over and third-over, respectively.

In the lane JK First Lady vaulted off the cover and into the lead, but Tetrick also fed his filly clear track, and a 25 2/5 final kicker got Lyons Sentinel the decision by half a length over JK First Lady in 1:49 4/5. New Year (Dunn) also came on nicely to get third, with Hen Party fourth and Lady Lou (Joe Bongiorno) back in fifth.

Lyons Sentinel, another filly by Captaintreacherous, is trained by Jim King Jr. for owner Threelyonsracing. Lyons Sentinel now has a record of 12-11-1 from 17 career appearances, and she has banked $1,116,139. She paid $3.60 to win as 4-5 favorite.