Fresh off a third place finish in Elite Series action at the Indiana State Fair earlier in the week, Pure Cotton turned in a strong performance in Indiana Sires Stakes action at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Friday, Sept. 3, taking a new lifetime mark of 1:51.4.
Pure Cotton and John DeLong pulled in a big upset in Indiana Sires Stakes action Friday, Sept. 3 at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Photo by Dean Gillette
Pure Cotton got away third from her inside post two for catch-driver John DeLong. Race favorite Always A Spinster and Trace Tetrick went out for the early lead and achieved the top spot after the quarter in :27.2. From there, Tetrick was able to get a breather through middle fractions of :56.3 and 1:24.3 before the pace became lively in the stretch.
Pure Cotton got racing room she needed and exploded to the outside, pacing home in :26.2 for the win, just one length ahead of Like It Like That and Darrell Wright. GD Rockin Kay and Michael Oosting finished third.
Pure Cotton was the second longest shot on the board, paying $33.00 for the win. The Rockin Image three-year-old filly is owned by Julie Rideout, Chris Gilbert and Pure Cotton Stables. Merlie Schwartz is the breeder on the filly, who is trained by Doug Rideout.
Pure Cotton was lightly raced as a two-year-old winning both of her starts on the Indiana Sired Fair Circuit last year. This season, she started her year off at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, finishing fourth in the first leg of Indiana Sires Stakes action before moving to the Indiana Sired Fair Circuit, winning a pair of events at Portland. A fifth place finish in ISS action in Leg 5 prompted Rideout to take her to the Indiana State Fairground for Elite action where she finished third prior to returning to the pari-mutuel ranks Friday.
Pure Cotton is now seven for 19 in her career. With the win in the ISS, she now has more than $64,000 in career earnings for her connections.
In the other division of sophomore pacing fillies, Somethingbeautiful picked up another win. The Always a Virgin filly, driven by LeWayne Miller, took over after the quarter in :26.4 and never looked back, scoring the win by three-quarters of a length over Kobe’s Gigi and Matt Krueger. Skyway Brittney and Sam Widger finished third.
Somethingbeautiful is owned by Howard Taylor, Edwin Gold, Abraham Basen and Richard Lombardo. Dylan Davis trains the talented filly, who was bred by Aaron Stutzman.
Somethingbeautiful is now four for nine in 2021 and 12 for 20 in her career. She is just shy of $450,000 in career earnings and took a career best time of 1:50.4 in her previous start at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. She is now on a three-race win streak.