Indiana-bred stakes attract contenders from near and far

The Indiana-breds have come from as far away as West Virginia for a pair of $100,000 statebred-restricted stakes Wednesday at Indiana Grand.

They also have come out of the woodwork with both the Frances Slocum, for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles, and the To Much Coffee, the Slocum’s brother race, attracting overflow fields. Both races have 14 entrants – 12 in the main body, two also-eligible – a rarity for two-turn dirt races.

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In the To Much Coffee the West Virginia shipper, Flatter Hymn, makes his third trip this year to Indiana Grand from trainer Jeff Runco’s home base. In August. Flatter Hymn beat 3-year-olds in the $100,000 Governor’s, a route race, and in October he was fourth facing older foes in the $80,000 Brickyard, a sprint. Longer probably is better for Flatter Hymn, but the top challengers he faces Wednesday form a much tougher group than the age-restricted one he beat over the summer.

Another 3-year-old, Unbridled Beast, had a four-race win streak snapped when he was ninth as the odds-on favorite Oct. 28 in the $100,000 Untouchable Star. That race was contested over a sloppy track, and given Unbridled Beast’s previous fast-track form – including a five-length pasting of older rivals $100,000 Gus Grissom – he might merely need dry conditions to rebound from the bad recent loss. Indeed, the fact that Uphold, a horse coming out of a $10,000 claimer, won the Untouchable Star suggests demanding conditions played an outsized role in the outcome.

The To Much Coffee abounds with front-runners, and an overcaffeinated pace could even bring 9-year-old Operation Stevie, a strict one-run, out-of-the-clouds closer into the fray. Operation Stevie has lost a couple steps from his peak but remains competent and finished second by a nose in this race a year ago.

The Slocum favorites figure to be Krunch and Piedi Bianchi, who ran one-two in the Merrillville Stakes over six furlongs earlier this autumn. Krunch has won three in a row and 4 of 5 this season and comes into Wednesday’s start in career form. Sprinting has been her game and in a pair of two-turn tries last year – one turf, one dirt – she failed to stay. Piedi Bianchi, once trained by Todd Pletcher, has shipped into Indiana Grand on several occasions but now makes her first start since being transferred to the barn of Indiana-based Cipriano Contreras. She’s a far more proven route horse than Krunch and won the Slocum comfortably in 2018.