Value to be found in Hoosier Breeders Sophomore stakes

If the morning-line odds hold, Twobirdsonestone will be the value play Wednesday at Indiana Grand in the open division of the $100,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Stakes.

This is the first of two similar six-figure races on the program and is carded as race 7, post time 5:03 Eastern. Race 8 bears the same name and base purse but is restricted to 3-year-old fillies.

Both races are open to Indiana-breds, an important consideration in handicapping since key contenders exit more heavily restricted races that were open only to horses by registered Indiana sires.

Snicker Cookie, for instance, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in race 7, the open division, and could be bet even lower than that price. Snicker Cookie comfortably won his 3-year-old debut, the Sagamore Sired Stakes last month, but that was an Indiana-sired race, as was the Crown Ambassador in which he finished second last fall. Snicker Cookie’s best win, however, came last November in the Indiana Futurity, which was an Indiana-bred race and Snicker Cookie’s only previous start around two turns. The Hoosier Breeders Sophomore is carded at 1 1/16 miles on dirt and we at least know Snicker Cookie, a Noble’s Promise gelding trained by Phil Bauer for owner-breeder Richard Rigney, can get the distance.

But Snicker Cookie is drawn wide in post 10 and faces meaningfully stronger competition than what he beat last out. Toss of Fate, Fever Temple, Havenhill, and Cap de Fuego all have an upset chance, but the pick to win is Twobirdsonestone, listed at 9-2 on the morning line. Trained for Penny Lauer by Mike Lauer, who won eight stakes races during the 2017 and 2019 Indiana Grand meetings, Twobirdsonestone is by Birdstone and out of the Lauers good-producing mare Dreamin Big. Twobirdsonestone performed modestly as a 2-year-old but came back for his 3-year-old season a stronger, faster horse, racing competitively in some open maiden races at Oaklawn Park before crushing Indiana-breds in a two-turn maiden race June 7. He can win right back, hopefully at a fair price.

For the fillies’ division, Rigney and Bauer have Fireball Baby, who won the two-turn Miss Indiana last fall in her only route try and was compromised by a rough trip when fourth as the odds-on favorite last month in the Indiana-sired Swifty Sired Stakes. She has a chance, but there are plenty of ways one might go in a 1 1/16-mile race stuffed too full – at least on paper – with early speed types.

One price horse to consider is Quiet Contender, who probably will go off lower than her 30-1 morning-line price but will undoubtedly be a longshot. Quiet Contender rallied to win her sprint debut and closed solidly for second of seven facing older rivals in a two-turn turf allowance race June 4. Owner-trainer Marvin Johnson adds blinkers for Wednesday’s start, but hopefully the equipment change doesn’t bring out much more early speed since the right trip for Quiet Contender could come from the back of the pack.