Priceless has been a top contender all season on the Indiana circuit. She now placed her name among the national contenders with a win in the Grand Circuit’s $230,000 Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stakes Friday, Sept. 20 at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.
The look on driver Brandon Bates face is “Priceless” as she rolls to victory in the Kentucky Stallion Management Stakes at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Friday, Sept. 20. Photo by Dean Gillette
Priceless and trainer-driver Brandon Bates got away from the gate in the two-hole behind pace-setter Beyond Ecstasy and Tim Tetrick, the favorites in the race. The Rockin Image daughter rode along right on his helmet all the way to the stretch before pacing home in :26.3 to win by two lengths in 1:51.1. JK Finendandy and Trace Tetrick finished second over Shouldabeenatd and Yannick Gingras for third.
The win was a great rebound for Priceless, who broke stride in her last Indiana Sires Stakes start and could not recover, finishing 10th. She is now five for seven in 2019 and pushed her earnings over the $200,000 barrier with the Grand Circuit win. A $31,000 yearling purchase from the Hoosier Classic Yearling Sale last fall, Priceless is owned by Kevin Miller and Bert Hochsprung of Illinois and was bred by Mark, Mervin and Jacob Graber. She paid $6.80, $4.60 and $4.00 across the board.
The very next race featured the $24,500 Ryan Wilcox Memorial with Always A Prince and Trace Tetrick grabbing the win in 1:48.4. Owned by Carl and Melanie Atley, it was the third win of the year for Indiana’s Pacer of the Year in 2018. Always A Prince now has in excess of $628,000 in earnings under the direction of trainer Tyler George.
Another big win for Indiana on the night came from the Ron Burke-trained Sawyer’s Desire, who won the $125,000 Elevation Pace in 1:51.0, one and one-quarter lengths over another Indiana sired horse Odds on Osiris and Peter Wrenn. The win was the third in seven starts for Sawyer’s Desire, a son of Real Desire, who was driven to victory by Yannick Gingras.