Priceless, Indiana’s top two-year-old pacing filly of 2020, is back on track in Indiana. The Rockin Image filly spent 100 days turned out in warmer weather, spending the winter in Hawkinsville, Ga. After coming back and starting out the year under trainer Jeff Edwards at the Hawkinsville Training Center, Priceless shipped home to Indiana April 10 and is now back in Indiana with trainer-driver Brandon Bates to polish off her training and get ready for her sophomore season.
Priceless awaits her daily jog at her home base in Warren, Ind. from the Brandon Bates Stable. Photo by Brandon Bates
“She (Priceless) is training back excellent,” said Bates. “She has grown taller and added some muscle.”
A winner in seven of 11 starts last season, Priceless earned in excess of $347,000 and took a mark of 1:50.2 at Woodbine. She is owned by Kevin Miller and Bert Hochsprung of Illinois and capped off her season with a start in the prestigious Breeders Crown at Woodbine.
Priceless has been staked heavily in 2020 and pending the return of live racing, her first start could be at the end of May when Indiana Sires Stakes is scheduled to kick off. However, this date might be moved back pending the official start of the season at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. The next stakes engagement after the first leg of Indiana Sires Stakes action on the agenda for Priceless is the Fan Hanover at Woodbine in mid-June.
Priceless could be racking up some major miles in the trailer for 2020. Other stakes on her schedule for this year include the Max Hempt at Poconos, Mistletoe Shalee at The Meadowlands, The Horseman at the Indiana State Fair, the Bluegrass at The Red Mile, and the Breeders Crown, which returns to Harrah’s Hoosier Park in October.
Priceless is currently training at Bates’ home base in Warren, Ind., north of Harrah’s Hoosier Park approximately 50 minutes just off Interstate 69. The training facility includes a half-mile training track and two barns with seven paddocks for turnouts. Priceless and two-year-old Rockin Image filly, Phelgon, are the only two in the barn for Bates right now. Others are pending joining the Bates’ barn when racing officially opens at Harrah’s Hoosier Park after state regulations due to Covid-19 are lifted.
Priceless and Phelgon are under the care of Bates’ groom, John Dolenski. The fillies will make a strong one-two punch for the stable in Indiana for 2020.