Matthews major player in stakes; first post moved to 10 a.m.

Trainer Randy Matthews will have a busy Wednesday at Indiana Grand as he’s set to send out three capable starters between the card’s two stakes. Matthews will saddle Bloody Mary Mornin and Ijustwantahavefun in the $100,000 Peony and Unbridled Beast in the $100,000 Bucchero.

Because of expected high temperatures, first post at Indiana Grand on Wednesday and Thursday has been moved up to 10 a.m. Eastern.

The Peony and Bucchero are both over 1 1/16 miles on turf and are restricted to 3-year-olds and up bred in Indiana. The Peony, which is for fillies and mares, drew 12 runners, as did the Bucchero.

The races are competitive, Matthews said.

“Both have a handful of horses who could win with the right trip,” he said.

Matthews has started more Indiana-breds than usual this meet, where he is 12 for 52 overall with a 23 percent win rate.

“I probably have twice as many [Indiana-breds] as usual,” he said. “I had a couple of breeders contact me, so we’ve had some new horses we haven’t had in the past. It’s been a good summer so far.”

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Bloody Mary Mornin will start as one of the top choices in the Peony. She was second as the favorite in the local allowance prep Aug. 9, and before that won back-to-back turf allowances at Indiana Grand.

Bloody Mary Mornin, who has had success from both on and off the pace, will break from post 3 under Rodney Prescott.

“The girls race is kind of paceless,” Matthews said. “She really can go either way. We just trust Rodney to make that decision.

“She’s definitely one of the contenders.”

Ijustwantahavefun enters in sharp form, as she won a nonwinners-of-three lifetime allowance over the Indiana Grand turf in her most recent start Aug. 5.

“She’s coming into herself right about now,” Matthews said. “I expect her to run good. She’s a hard trier.”

Ijustwantahavefun will break from post 11 under Alex Achard.

Bumble of Love will get good support as she seeks to win her third straight race over the Indiana turf Wednesday. Other contenders are The Beauty’s Tale and Timeless Rose, who both exit the same allowance prep as Bloody Mary Mornin.

Unbridled Beast will be looking for the third stakes win of his career in the Bucchero. He’s also looking for his first win at the meet. Unbridled Beast enters off a fourth-place finish in an Aug. 9 allowance at Indiana.

“He’s been kind of unlucky,” Matthews said. “He keeps drawing the rail. Things need to work out for him.”

Unbridled Beast drew post 6 and could get a nice trip just behind the leaders. He will be ridden by Prescott.

“The boys race has a lot of speed,” Matthews said.

The front-runners in the field include Classy Cowboy, Chipofftheoldblock, and Cash Logistics.

A solid pace also could benefit Strong Tide, a multiple stakes winner returning to the Indiana-bred ranks after running eighth in the Grade 1 Mister D. on Aug. 14 at Arlington Park.