Harrah's Hoosier Park: Three-year-old pacing males tussle in Indiana Sires Stakes

Little Rocket Man and Rockie Got Framed were victorious in the two $50,000 divisions of the fifth leg of Indiana Sires Stakes action for sophomore pacing colts and geldings on Friday night at Harrah's Hoosier Park.

In the first grouping Pure Rock (Rick Plano) charged away from the outside post nine and got to the opening quarter in a rapid 25 4/5, but Jagger Rocks (Sam Widger) pulled off the cones from fourth past that marker and cleared to command passing the 53 second half. The tempo remained wicked in the third quarter as well as Jagger Rocks left out Brooklets Banner (Dale Hiteman) and tripped the three-quarter mile marker in 1:20 2/5. While all that was going on up front, Little Rocket Man (Trace Tetrick) had been back in sixth, tipped to the outside entering the last turn, and tipped three-wide at three-quarters to get around the fading Brooklets Banner.

In the lane Pure Rock came back to the outside and gained a narrow lead over a battling-on Jagger Rocks, but Little Rocket Man was kicking home in that three-wide position he was put in, and he would hit the wire first in a close finish, defeating a surging Ollies Ztam (Ricky Macomber Jr.) in a career-best 1:49. Pure Rock was third over Jagger Rocks.

Trained by Missy Essig, Little Rocket Man is a Rockin Image gelding owned by Russell Beeman and Jack Freeman. Unraced as a rookie, Little Rocket Man has a record of 9-0-1 from 12 starts this year, and he has earned $100,380. The 2-5 favorite, he paid $2.80 to win.

Rockie Got Framed (Macomber Jr.) returned to the Hoosier State after taking a shot against Grand Circuit company in the Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park, and he would win his section in 1:49 3/5, giving him a new lifetime mark as well.

41-1 shot Shark Play (Widger) made front and cut out fractions of 26 2/5, 55, and 1:22 4/5, but Rockie Got Framed, who towed along on the inside in the three-hole at every call, angled out widest in upper stretch and charged by in the last sixteenth of the mile, getting up to score by a length. Shamwow (Todd Warren) put in a big effort from first-up and was second, with Tellmeaboutit (Hiteman) splitting foes in the stretch from the pocket to collect third.

Another gelded son of Rockin Image, Rockie Got Framed is trained by Jamie Macomber for owners Rocco Ruffolo and Eleven Star Stables. Winless in ten attempts in 2018, he has made seven trips to the winner's circle this year, and he has pocketed $141,356. The 5-2 second choice, Rockie Got Framed returned $7.00 to win.