Hoosier Park: Ladies' Night

Free Bonus puts her undefeated mark on the line Saturday night when she heads a field of seven Indiana-bred 2-year-old fillies in the $40,000 Miss Indiana Stakes, the featured race for Hoosier Park's fourth annual Ladies' Night festivities.

Accompanying the Miss Indiana is the Female Jockey Challenge, a series of six races that will match female riders from the Northeast, Midwest, Canada, and the local area.

The rider lineup for the jockey challenge is: Tammi Piermarini and Jill Jellison from Suffolk Downs; Francine Villeneuve and Cory Clark from Fort Erie; Liz Morris and Heather Irion from Illinois; Shelley Moran and Jane Magrell from Ohio; and locals Bonnie Castaneda, Jessica Endres, Joddie Fortner, and Julie Fritz.

The Miss Indiana Stakes will be Free Bonus's first attempt beyond 5 1/2 furlongs, and she appears more than capable of handling the task. After winning her maiden at Hoosier Park on Sept. 10 by 4 1/2 lengths, she dazzled with an 11 1/4-length win in the City of Anderson Stakes on Oct. 1. She earned a strong Beyer Speed Figure of 80 that evening, which towers over her competition's in this race. Sidney LeJeune has the ride for trainer David Norris from post 6.

Joe Cain will saddle the coupled entry of Slim Justice and Robyn Sweet Robyn for the Miss Indiana, with Lester Knight aboard Slim Justice from post 1 and Rodney Prescott riding Robyn Sweet Robyn from post 4. Slim Justice rallied from well back to capture the inaugural running of the $40,000 Hoosier Silver Cup on Oct. 17 and was second to Free Bonus in their only meeting.

Join the Crusade, second in the City of Anderson, returned in the Hoosier Silver Cup and led to midstretch before fading to third, beaten 1 3/4 lengths. Tommy Pompell rides for trainer Ray Stifano from post 7.