Hoosier Park: Manchego cruises in Moni Maker

Manchego, harness racing's number-one ranked horse, got away cleanly from a trailing post and went on to easily win the $172,000 Moni Maker for sophomore filly trotters on Friday night at Hoosier Park.

Custom Cantab (Peter Wrenn) started well from post two and took the field of ten to the opening quarter in 27 3/5, but she would be overtaken by Hey Blondie (Andrew McCarthy), who then gave way to Manchego (Yannick Gingras) on the way to the 56 2/5 half.

Gingras was able to keep the pace soft around the final turn, getting to three-quarters in just 1:25 2/5, and Manchego sprinted home in 27 3/5 to win by three lengths in 1:53 flat. Custom Cantab came back on to finish second, with Seviyorum (Andy Miller) third.

"Moni Maker, she was special, and this girl is also very, very special," said winning trainer Jimmy Takter. "She came back much better than I expected her to. She grew quite a bit and filled out. Basically, she's had a very, very good season. She got nipped, I think, three races by a nose. She lost all those photo finishes, but overall she's been just fantastic this year.

"Yannick was fortunate leaving out of the gate. He got away fifth or sixth and advanced himself to the front. The wind is very, very hard on the backside, so 56 2/5 to the half is a lot harder than it looks."

Manchego, who scored her 19th win from 23 lifetime starts, is trained by Takter for owners Black Horse Racing, John Fielding, and Herb Liverman. The 1-9 favorite, Manchego paid $2.20 to win, and she ran her own bankroll to $1,524,182.