Priceless has been near perfect all season long and she capped off a tremendous year at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Friday, Oct. 11 in the $270,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Championships for two-year-old pacing fillies. Trained and driven by Brandon Bates, the Rockin Image filly rallied home in :26.1 to earn the commanding win in 1:52.2.
Priceless and Brandon Bates were extremely impressive in the freshman pacing filly ranks of the Indiana Sires Stakes Super Final Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. Photo by Dean Gillette
Starting from the center of the pack, Priceless had one mission and that was to head directly to the lead from the starting gate. She posted fractions of :27.1, :56.4 and 1:26.1 before finding another gear and striding away from the field by six and one-half lengths for the win. Foxy Rigger and Trace Tetrick finished second over Grace Rocks and Sam Widger for third.
It was the sixth win in nine starts for Priceless this season. She now has in excess of $328,000 in earnings for owners Kevin Miller and Bert Hochsprung of Illinois. The filly bred by Mark, Mervin and Jacob Graber was a $31,000 yearling purchase last fall from the Hoosier Classic Yearling Sale.
Prior to the start, Bates, who is a great advocate for racing in Indiana on social media, said the filly drew a prime spot, loves the mud and will be going forward. He also mentioned to dismiss the previous start by Priceless due to interference during the mile.
“She is just game, loves to win, and loves to race,” said Bates in a press release from Harrah’s Hoosier Park. “We’ll load up Wednesday and head to Mohawk, give it a try in the Breeders Crown elimination.”