Harrah's Hoosier Park: Pinske sends two into Crown eliminations

Less than two weeks ago, trainer Carter Pinske picked up the biggest Grand Circuit win of his young career when Mommamia Volo captured the Kentucky Filly Futurity. The 3-year-old female trotter returns to action Friday in a Breeders Crown elimination, but she will not be alone in representing the Pinske Stable in this week’s Crown action at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.

Prince Of Honor, who has won 11 of 16 career races despite being sidelined by injury near the end of last season, will compete in Saturday’s first of three $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations for 3-year-old male trotters. The top-three finishers from each elimination plus the fourth-place finisher with the highest seasonal earnings will advance to the $672,000 final on Oct. 28 at Hoosier.

Pinske brought Prince Of Honor along slowly as a 2-year-old, first in sweeping four starts in the Kentucky Golden Rod Series, and later in winning the fall’s Corbin Sire Stakes, all at Lexington’s Red Mile. His best win time of 1:53 2/5 was bettered by only nine rookie male trotters last season, and Pinske planned to send the gelding to the Valley Victory Stakes in November but saw the campaign ended by a broken coffin bone.

This year, Prince Of Honor has five wins and a second in seven starts. His victories include the Kentucky Commonwealth Series final and the consolation division for the Kentucky Futurity. His only off-the-board finish came in a division of the Bluegrass Stakes, after which he scoped a little sick.

He heads to his Breeders Crown elimination off his Futurity consolation triumph.

“He was a big, gangly horse, and I took my time with him,” Pinske said. “He’s a very nice horse. I can’t say enough about him. He’s extremely smart. Last year, I thought we had a Valley Victory horse and probably a Hambletonian horse, but the injury set him back. Touch wood, everything has been great this year.

“He doesn’t have a lot of starts, and hasn’t been racing high stakes-quality horses, but he’s a very mentally tough horse. He’s come back and done pretty much everything we’ve asked. I thought he deserved a shot.”

Prince Of Honor is a son of Walner-Princess Aurora. His mom was a Grand Circuit winner and finished second to Ariana G in the 2016 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old filly trotters.

“He loves chasing down horses and always puts forth as much effort as he can,” Pinske said about Prince Of Honor, who is owned by Pinske Stables and David Hoese. “He’s a fun horse.”

Fun, too, is Mommamia Volo, who also benefited from patience. She heads to her Breeders Crown elimination on Friday with a three-race win streak. In addition to the Kentucky Filly Futurity, those triumphs include the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series final and a division of the Bluegrass Stakes.

She is the season’s fastest sophomore filly trotter, and her time of 1:50 in the Kentucky championship on Sept. 17 at the Red Mile missed equaling the quickest mile in history by a 3-year-old female trotter by only one-fifth of a second.

“She’s really come into herself lately,” Pinske said. “She’s a very, very big horse. She’s battled a few things throughout her career, but the main thing was just being growthy, big, a little bit mentally immature. I think she’s finally caught up to her peers and she’s putting it all together.

“She didn’t always like training, but she’s just turned it on lately. She wants to go to work in the morning, she wants attention, where she used to stand in the back of the stall with a leave-me-alone attitude. She’s just turned into a nice horse to be around.”

Mommamia Volo, who has won six of 17 races lifetime, is known for her fast-finishing style.

“It’s just always fun to have a horse that can close,” Pinske said. “I think her biggest asset is sheer closing speed. She loves to do it. If she’s anywhere close, she’s going to give you a good run. It’s just fun to see a horse that has that attitude; get to the top of the lane, pin their ears, and go by other horses. And just know that’s their job.”

Mommamia Volo is a daughter of Tactical Landing-Margarita Momma. Her half-brother Amigo Volo (by Father Patrick) won Breeders Crown titles in 2019 and 2020. He also won the Kentucky Futurity in 2020. Pinske Stables co-owned Amigo Volo, who was trained some by Pinske early in his career before being conditioned by Nifty Norman.

Pinske trains the homebred Mommamia Volo for Kentuckiana Racing Stable and Jorgen Jahre Jr.

Winning the Kentucky Filly Futurity was a special moment.

“You can’t describe it,” said Pinske, who has won 58 of 272 career races as a trainer. “We won it as owners, being part of it that way, with Amigo and Love A Good Story (in the 2020 Filly Futurity). It’s just totally different when you can take, in my eyes, an extremely well-bred horse and please owners that trust you with the horse.

“I’m still young in my career, so to pay back somebody that’s sticking their neck out and giving you a shot, you can’t describe that feeling.”

Racing begins at 6:15 p.m. (EDT) at Hoosier Park.