Business as usual wouldn’t be a bad goal for the 120-day race meeting that starts Tuesday at Indiana Grand Racing and Casino, but the question is whether the Indianapolis-area racino can even maintain its status quo. After averaging 8.5 starters per Thoroughbred race and conducting 1,193 such races during its 2015 meet, Indiana Grand averaged just 8.09 starters in 1,104 Thoroughbred races during the 2017 season. The average number of starters in 176 turf races fell to 8.60, the first time since 2014 that Indiana turf races averaged fewer than nine starters. The Tuesday and Wednesday programs this week are rife with Indiana-bred races, but that realm also is troubled. In 2014, there were 408 Indiana-bred foals recorded, of which 268 were Indiana-sired. Those numbers were 427 and 223, respectively, in 2015, and fell to just 367 and 167 in 2016, the foal crop that will start racing as 2-year-olds this spring and summer. While the raw number of Indiana-breds has fallen, the talent at the top of the breed has strengthened. “This is my ninth season,” said director of racing Kevin Greely. “The Indiana-breds weren’t terrible when I first got here, but we’ve slowly improved on the quality.” Purses at Indiana Grand average more than $200,000 per day, high at a track where grandstand seating capacity is 800 and, on average, less than $50,000 per day is wagered ontrack on the live product. The day-to-day product is second-tier at best, but some good young horses pop up at Indiana Grand, especially later in the summer, when horses from prominent Midwest stables not suited to Saratoga need a place to run. Trainer Brad Cox, in particular, has utilized Indiana Grand’s 2-year-old program to good ends: Two years ago, Mr. Misunderstood won a maiden race there, and last summer Kentucky Oaks favorite Monomoy Girl as well as this past weekend’s Fantasy Stakes winner Sassy Sienna raced at Indiana Grand. Cox, the leading percentage trainer with more than eight starters during 2017, has a string housed at the track again, while 2017’s leading trainer by wins, Genaro Garcia, is coming out firing, with runners in four races both Tuesday and Wednesday. Trainer Mike Lauer’s barn annually houses talented Indiana-breds such as The Money Dance, who won an Oaklawn Park maiden special weight race Saturday by seven lengths. Jersey Justice, trained by Indiana stalwart Tom Amoss, is another Indiana-bred 3-year-old with open-company ability. If he continues progressing, perhaps The Money Dance could race in the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby, which anchors the most important card of the season, scheduled for Saturday, July 14. Saturday programs begin at 6:05 p.m., with the standard four-day race week also encompassing 2:05 p.m. start times on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. The stakes schedule, heavy on Indiana-bred races and concentrated on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, starts May 23, about the same time the turf course opens. Marcelino Pedroza won the second-most turf races among jockeys during the 2017 season, trailing Deshawn Parker, but nipped Parker by six wins for the overall riding title. Both are back this year, as is Fernando De La Cruz. Alex Canchari typically summers at Canterbury, but for now rides at Indiana Grand represented by well-connected Jimmy McNerney, who also books mounts for Parker and the seven-pound apprentice Brett Birzer. The trend was more pronounced two and three years ago, but even to some extent last year the main-track rail was dead during early-season racing. The only potential post position biases worth noting are inside draws in turf sprints and one-mile main-track races. The betting public has turned in a remarkably consistent performance three of the last four meets, with favorites winning at a 37 percent clip in 2014, 2016, and 2017. Bucchero is top Indiana-bred Grade 2 winner Bucchero was named 2017 Indiana Horse of the Year on Sunday by the Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. The 6-year-old Kantharos horse had a diverse campaign for owner Ironhorse Racing Stable and trainer Tim Glyshaw, competing on dirt, turf, and synthetic at six different tracks. His season was highlighted by a win in the Grade 2 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland, with additional wins in the Brickyard Stakes at Indiana Grand and the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Stakes at Mountaineer. He finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar. “[Last year] was, in one word, fulfilling,” said managing partner Harlan Malter. “For the horse, it was his opportunity to show the type of horse he is to the whole country. For us, it was the culmination of a long-term strategy to let him develop at his own pace and let him become the type of hard-grinding older horse that drew us to the sport. “For the breeders, it was a way to pay them back for recommending the horse and the confidence they had in him from the star. To the fans of horse racing in Indiana, it was fantastic to give them a local horse that they could follow outside the state – support that the whole team sincerely appreciated.” Bucchero was bred in Indiana by Southern Chase Farm and Karen Dodd. The horse also took home honors from the Daily Racing Form for earning the top Indiana-bred Beyer Speed Figure of 2017, when he tallied a 99 for his Breeders’ Cup effort. Following is a complete list of winners from the ITOBA awards. Horse of the Year/older male: Bucchero 2-year-old male: Jersey Justice 2-year-old female: Piedi Bianchi Indiana-sired 2-year-old male: Mo Money Indiana-sired 2-year-old female: Paisley 3-year-old male: Retrospection 3-year-old female: Marina’s Legacy Indiana-sired 3-year-old male: Evader Indiana-sired 3-year-old female: Defining Hope Older female: Sweet N Wicked Indiana-sired older male: Supreme Justice Indiana-sired older female: Joyous Lady Broodmare of the Year: Adore You (dam of Piedi Bianchi) Stallion of the Year: Notional Breed Development Stallion Owner of the Year: Swifty Farms Breed Development Horse of the Year: Bucchero Breed Development Breeder of the Year: Mike and Penny Lauer Highest Indiana-bred Beyer: Bucchero Hall of Distinction: Jon Schuster – additional reporting by Joe Nevills