Hoosier Park: Check Six tops Burke exacta in the Monument Circle

Check Six, who got caught up in a speed duel in last Saturday's Breeders Crown final and wound up third, got a much softer tempo and capitalized on that to win the $200,000 Monument Circle for 3-year-old pacing colts on Friday night at Hoosier Park in 1:51.

Driven by Yannick Gingras, Check Six went to the top from post two, with fellow Ron Burke trainee Manhattan Beach (Matt Kakaley), the second-place finisher in the Breeders Crown, settling into the pocket at the 26 4/5 opening quarter. Check Six was unchallenged in the backstretch, and that allowed Gingras to steal a second-quarter breather, with the half going on the board in just 56 seconds.

A 28 4/5 third-quarter followed, and that set the stage for a sprint to the finish. Manhattan Beach came to the outside on his stablemate, but Check Six had the jump and plenty of pace too, as he would go on to win by about two lengths. Mystical Rock (Andy Shetler) was third at long odds, followed by Fine Diamond (Tim Tetrick), another Burke entrant, and Ideal Jimmy (Marcus Miller).

"Last week, it was a lot faster than I wanted to go," said Gingras after the race. "I said I was going to try and make his job a little easier tonight, and it worked out. I expected some speed from the outside, but when the gate opened Matt and I were the only two leaving out of there, so I was definitely happy with that.

"It was definitely a good move by Matt. If he didn't leave he was going to put himself in a bad spot, but then at that point I had control of the race. We were able to go slow fractions, and my horse is super sharp right now, so I didn't think they were going to beat me from there."

Burke trains Check Six, a colt by Somebeachsomewhere, for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC., William Switala, and James Martin. This was Check Six's 14th win from 30 career starts, and he has now earned $1,070,304. The 3-5 favorite in the race, Check Six returned $3.20.