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Indiana Grand serves up pair of enticing Wednesday stakes

May 18, 2021

By Chris Lomon / @ChrisLomon

May 18, 2021 – A pair of $75,000 stakes events, the Swifty Sired Fillies, and Sagamore Sired, are on tap this Wednesday at Indiana Grand (@IGRaceCourse).

Slated as race seven on the 11-race card, the Swifty Sired, at 5 ½ furlongs on the main track, attracted 10 starters, including 3-5 morning line favourite Hungarian Princess.

Bred and owned by Swifty Farms, the 3-year-old daughter of Pataky Kid arrives at the Swifty Sired off a runner-up effort in her 2021 debut.

Trained by Kim Hammond, the multiple stakes winning miss is 3-2-0 from six career starts.

Hungarian Princess debuted last August at Indiana Grand, romping to a seven-length score at nearly 10-1 in the 5 ½-furlong dash.

Hungarian Princess winning the City of Anderson. (Coady Photo)

After a fourth-place effort in her next start, the bay rhymed off consecutive stakes score, taking the City of Anderson on September 30 and the Indiana Stallion Fillies on October 28. She concluded her 2-year-old campaign with a runner-up performance in the Miss Indiana Stakes on November 17.

Rachel McLaughlin (@RacingRachelM), Racing Analyst and Production Manager with Indiana Grand, views it as Hungarian Princess’ race to lose.

“She was the ITOBA 2-year-old Indiana Sired Filly of the Year in 2020,” noted McLaughlin. “Her 2-year-old campaign was amazing. She won the Indiana Stallion Fillies Stakes in the slop, which is key because we have had and are projected to have rain this week. She was second (at 1 mile and 70 yards) in the Miss Indiana Stakes last year as well. So, she is a very versatile filly. She has won at a sprint, route, fast, sloppy, and was a nice second in her 2021 debut. She likes to press the pace. Jockey Sammy Bermudez is the only one to ever ride her and he gets the call for the race. He’s been hot the last week as well.”

Rachel McLaughlin

McLaughlin sees plenty of solid angles for those wagering on the Swifty Sired.

“With most of the money projected to be on the nine, Hungarian Princess, it would be an excellent opportunity to catch some big long shots in your trifectas and superfectas. I’m sure there will be some pretty crazy show bets as well. A lot of people try to beat the heavy favourite like this, so the fun of betting this race for me would be trying to find a longshot that you think can upset Hungarian Princess and bet an exacta with the longshot on top and the nine underneath, or any combo of horses to win and the nine to get beat. It’s unlikely, but when it happens it’s fun and pays well.”

The Swifty Sired is slated as race seven with a scheduled post time of 5:31 p.m.

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One race later, 3-year-old colts and geldings step into the spotlight in the 5 ½-furlong Sagamore Sired Stakes.

McLaughlin sees a competitive race unfolding.

Dillsboro Devil, installed as the slight 9-5 morning line favourite, will look to rebound after a seventh-place finish in the Indiana Futurity to close out his rookie campaign last November.

Dillsboro Devil (2) winning the Crown Ambassador. (Coady Photo)

Bred and owned by Spooky Hollow Racing, Dillsboro Devil won his first two starts, including the Crown Ambassador Stakes on October 28, 15 days after breaking his maiden in his debut.

“Even though Dillsboro Devil is making his first start of the season, he has beaten Sudden Shift and Betsdownletsride,” offered McLaughlin. “He’s lightly raced and if we get an off track Wednesday, he also has a nice win on the slop. He had a nice work coming into this race and has early speed. He didn’t like the route should improve returning to sprint distance.”

Trained by John Langemeier, the son of Skylord, who’ll break from gate six, will have plenty of competition to his inside.

Sudden Shift, owned by Mast Thoroughbreds LLC, finished second in last year’s Indiana Futurity, and brings a record of 2-4-0 from seven starts into Wednesday’s tilt.

Sudden Shift winning April 27, 2021 at Indiana Grand. (Coady Photo)

The Sagamore Sired will be the third start of the campaign for the son of Unbridled Express. He was second in his first start of 2021 and followed it up with a winning effort on April 2.

“Sudden Shift is by very popular sire Unbridled Express and has only been off the board once in seven lifetime starts. Another very versatile one, he has won on slop, actually, he romped routing on the slop. He won his last one out going Wednesday’s distance on a fast track. He gets the uber-classy and very talented veteran jockey Deshawn Parker again.”

Betsdownletsride, a dark bay son of Sangaree, will look to rebound from an eighth-place finish in an allowance race on April 21.

The Cipriano Contreras trainee took all the spoils in last year’s Hillsdale Stakes, and brings a 3-0-1 mark from five starts into his third stakes appearance (he was third in last fall’s Crown Ambassador).

Betsdownletsride winning the Hillsdale. (Coady Photo)

“Betsdownletsride was the ITOBA 2-year-old Indiana Sired Colt of the Year in 2020. He has only been off the board in one start and it was his first out of 2021. He either needed one or didn’t like the mud that day. Has ran a nice third in the slop last year, only missing by two lengths, so I’m not sure what the excuse was last time out. But if you throw a line through that one he looks super tough here. Cipriano Contreras is 20 percent in stakes races and does very well here in Indiana.”

The Sagamore Sired has a post time of 6:02 p.m. First race post time is 2:25 p.m.

Fans can watch and wager on all the action with HPIbet.com

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