Lauer sweeps Indiana-bred stakes with The Money Dance, Flurry

The Governor’s Stakes capped a Mike Lauer party, The Money Dance leading the festivities.

Bouncing back from a couple subpar performances, The Money Dance overpowered In a Fog in upper stretch and waltzed home to a 3 1/2-length victory in the $155,7000 Governor’s Stakes on Wednesday at Indiana Grand. Lauer trains the top two finishers and sent out third-place Redyornothereicome for a trifecta sweep.

Two races earlier, Lauer sent out the winner of the $155,500 First Lady Stakes for Indiana-bred 3-year-old fillies, Flurry, who galloped home by 4 1/2 lengths.

The Money Dance came into the Indiana Grand meet late this spring in roaring form and had the Governor’s, for Indiana-bred 3-year-olds, been run in May he’d have been an odds-on favorite. But after a failed turf experiment at Arlington, a disappointing loss in the Hoosier Breeders’ Sophomore Stakes, and a one-paced showing in the Indiana Derby, The Money Dance was just a 5-2 favorite in the Governor’s.

He made that look like easy money for his backers. Racing inside from sixth under jockey Edgar Morales, The Money Dance loomed midway around the turn and at the three-sixteenths pole blasted by In a Fog, who had challenged for the lead down the backstretch and around the far turn, taking over just as his stablemate rumbled past. Skipping over a sloppy track, The Money Dance ran one mile and 70 yards in 1:42.41 and paid $7 to win. In a Fog finished 6 1/2 lengths in front of Redyornothereicome, who had momentum at the three-furlong pole before his run lost steam.

Lauer and his wife, Penny, bred The Money Dance, a son of Jimmy Creed and Whistlin’ Jean, by Pure Prize. Whistlin’ Jean’s first two foals to race are the six-time winner Sights and Sounds and the stakes winner Whistle Stop. Penny Lauer owns The Money Dance in partnership with Falcon Racing Stable.

Lauer also ran three in the First Lady and while Obsolete and Miracles Take Time never factored, Flurry proved plenty capable. Stalking a slow pace on the outside under Marcelino Pedroza, Flurry ($2.80) seized control of the First Lady at the top of the stretch and never let go. She maintained her advantage through the final furlong-and-a-half under only mild urging, stopping the timer in 1:43.29 for one mile and 70 yards over the sloppy going. Two Carrot Ransom, a 36-1 shot, finished second while pace-setting Paisley, who was 14-1, held third.

Flurry, like The Money Dance, is 100 percent Lauer, bred by the husband-wife team and owned by Mrs. Lauer. The Lauers also campaigned Flurry’s dam, Dreamin Big, and second dam, Hush U Dreamer. Dreamin Big was a four-time stakes winner and Flurry, her first foal to race, now is a two-time stakes winner of nearly $230,000. Flurry, a daughter of Old Fashioned, has five wins and two seconds from seven starts, though her path to victory Wednesday was eased when New York-based Piedi Bianchi was scratched.

The two stakes originally were scheduled for Aug. 8 but had to be rescheduled when heavy rain forced the cancellation of that racing program.

► Baratti ($12.40) rallied along the inside of a sodden turf course and won a three-horse photo in the $50,000 Preston Madden Stakes, also on Wednesday at Indiana Grand. Baratti, racing second off the claim for trainer John Ortiz and owners Hooties Racing, WSS Consulting, and Brent Gasaway, was home by a head over Lanier, who was a nose better than 31-1 pace-setter Bizerk. Favored Dazzling Gem finished ninth in his turf debut. Baratti, ridden by DeShawn Parker, was timed in 1:41.74 for one mile over yielding turf. The remainder of Wednesday’s scheduled turf races were moved to dirt because of wet conditions.