Mister Pollard seeks repeat in To Much Coffee Stakes
Three last-out stakes winners, including defending race winner Mister Pollard, look like prime players in an intriguing 12-horse field for the $150,000 To Much Coffee, the last of four stakes for Indiana-breds on Saturday’s closing-day card at Indiana Grand.
Mister Pollard, who got up by a nose as the 2-1 favorite in last year’s To Much Coffee, stretches out from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles following a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure for upsetting the Brickyard at 19-1 on Sept. 30. That performance served as a form reversal for the 4-year-old Mister Pollard, who began his 2015 campaign by going 0 for 7 without finishing better than fourth.
The field also includes the 3-year-olds Daddy Justice and Bucchero, who finished a head apart as the top two finishers in the 1 1/16-mile Hoosier Breeders’ Sophomore three weeks ago, and Country Minister, coming off a wire-to-wire victory at 17-1 in the 1 1/16-mile Gus Grissom on Oct. 7.
Daddy Justice has won three two-turn stakes restricted to 3-year-old statebreds since mid-July, although one of those victories was awarded when the first-place finisher was subsequently disqualified from any purse money. He was eighth in his previous stakes try against older horses in his turf debut.
Two others who merit respect are Bourne Free, who outran his 40-1 odds to finish second to Mister Pollard in last month’s Brickyard, and Paddy’s Notes, coming out of a second-place finish against open company in a high-priced optional claimer.
Bourne Free is dangerous if he can replicate either of his two best races against open company this season, a win worth an 85 Beyer going a mile in April and a close third in a one-mile, high-priced optional claimer in August.
Paddy’s Notes was extremely sharp in winning back-to-back starts to close out his 2014 campaign at Fair Grounds but is winless in five starts this season.
◗ The co-featured, $150,000 Frances Slocum for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles pits Lady Fog Horn, a 3-year-old who has reeled off three consecutive stakes victories, against Heart’s Song, who takes a distinct class drop out of the Grade 3 Dogwood at Churchill Downs, and Cactus Joe, stretching out following a win in last month’s six-furlong Merrillville.
◗ Derby Express, a winner in his last two starts by a combined 11 1/4 lengths, races beyond six furlongs for the first time in the $85,000 Indiana Futurity at a mile and 70 yards. Derby Express is a half-brother to Aint She a Saint, a three-time stakes winner going 1 1/16 miles.
◗ Easy Victory, a dominant winner in each of her first two career starts sprinting, looks far faster than her opponents in the $85,000 Miss Indiana for 2-year-old fillies going a mile and 70 yards.