Hoosier: Breeders Crown attracts 166 entrants

The Breeders Crown events at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino attracted 166 entries for the $6 million championship finals on Friday, Oct. 27, and Saturday, Oct. 28.

Eliminations will be needed in every division with the exception of the $250,000 Mare Trot, which drew just five mares as defending Breeders Crown champion Hannelore Hanover opted in against the males in the $526,250 Open Trot.

The $250,000 Mare Trot with five entered will go straight to the final on Friday, Oct. 27. They are in alphabetical order: Caprice Hill, Emoticon Hanover, Flowers N Songs, Pasithea Face S and Pink Pistol.

An even split of the Breeders Crown events along gender lines means that eight distaff eliminations will take place Friday, Oct. 20, and 14 eliminations for the males on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Eliminations split at 12 entries. Because there are no trailers allowed in eliminations, if 11 horses enter, two receive byes and there will be a single elimination to “qualify” the remaining eight horses for the final.

Hoosier Park scores nine across the starting gate and will have a trailer as the 10 horse in all finals.

Elimination winners, in an order determined by lot, will draw for post positions number one (#1) through five (#5) in the final. All other finalists, including bye horses, will be placed in an open draw for the remaining post positions.

Elimination fields with bye horses will be announced when finalized.

All 2-year-old finals will go for $600,000, which is the richest purse offered for that age group in the U.S.

Post time is 6:30 p.m. [EDT] for Breeders Crown elimination nights, and 6:00 p.m. [EDT] for the finals.

There is a 24-hour retention barn for all eliminations and finals.

Hoosier Park, a seven-eighths mile track that opened in Anderson, Ind., in 1994 and is now owned by Centaur Gaming, is the 31st racetrack to host the $6 million Breeders Crown, and the first new host track since The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in 2010.

-edited release (Hambletonian Society)