Son of a Nut another Greenhill goodie

With four wins from his first four starts, the last two open-lengths blowouts in restricted stakes, Son of a Nut is the certain favorite Wednesday at Indiana Grand in the $150,000 Governor’s Stakes. Son of a Nut has the look of an unusually talented Indiana-bred, but there is nothing unusual at all in that his owners and breeders, Sherri and Jeff Greenhill, have come up with such a horse.

The Greenhills have been on a remarkable run since 2009, the year they began racing Indiana homebreds. Their broodmare band of two – Pay the Toll and Damie’s Peanut, who is Son of a Nut’s dam – has produced four stakes winners who have earned nearly $800,000 combined since 2012, the year Pay the Toll’s first foal to race, Ain’t She a Saint, began winning Indiana-bred stakes.

“About six or seven years ago, I had been watching the Indiana program and noticed the purses were very, very high, and the competition – well, it was what it was,” said Jeff Greenhill, who also trains Son of a Nut.

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Greenhill’s training career had yielded six stakes wins in 12 years through 2011, but he has won 12 stakes over the last four calendar years. “We’ve just been greatly blessed,” he said. “We were breeding to $1,000 stallions, and Pay the Toll is a horse that broke her maiden for $5,000 at River Downs.”

Son of a Nut, a 3-year-old gelding by Unbridled’s Express, could turn out to be as good as anything the Greenhills have campaigned. The winner of a maiden race and a first-level allowance last year at 2, he won a sires stakes by nearly eight lengths to start his 3-year-old season, then beat older horses by more than three lengths July 16 in the $89,000 Harrison.

Son of a Nut hasn’t come close to losing yet, and he is dropping back into a 3-year-old-restricted Indiana-bred race, but Wednesday’s start over one mile and 70 yards marks his first try around two turns.

“It’s a big question, two turns, but for $150,000, you might as well find out,” Greenhill said. “His dam was a sprinter, and the other two offspring out of her were distance-limited. This horse is bigger physically, and I’m hopeful because in his four wins they weren’t gaining on him. As far as being relaxed enough, around the stable he’s just a big, sleeping giant; you have to get him up to do anything.”

Son of a Nut figures to be bet below his 2-1 morning-line odds and seems worth opposing owing to his lack of route experience. Academy Bay would be worth a look at 6-1 or higher. He finished a distant fourth last month in the Snack Stakes, but that race, his first in two months, was worth $60,000 less than Wednesday’s, and trainer Steve Asmussen might well have been using it as a prep for this richer payday.

The Governor’s goes as race 6, while its sister race, the $150,000 First Lady, is race 8. Heart’s Song is the 2-1 morning-line favorite there on the strength of a 2 1/4-length victory July 15 in the Erin’s Lucky Star. Heart’s Song got a favorable pace setup there and might well get another one Wednesday.

Among her opponents is last-out maiden winner Hebe’s Victory, who is lightly raced and displayed an affinity for route racing in her two-turn debut July 14. She might be four times Heart’s Song’s price in the First Lady.