Indiana | Horse Racing Free Tips

Grade 1 Winner Discreet Lover Retired To R Star Stallions In Indiana

Discreet Lover, a Grade 1 winner who earned nearly $1.5 million, has been retired from racing to stand at Kerry and Leigh Ann Hopper's R Star Stallions in Anderson, Ind. He will stand for a fee of $2,000, with special considerations for approved mares.

A son of four-time graded stakes winner Repent, Discreet Lover proved his talent and durability over a racing career spanning 49 starts. A winner and stakes-placed runner as a 2-year-old, Discreet Lover had a busy 3-year-old campaign while hitting the board in seven of 14 starts, including placings in the Parx Derby and Ohio Derby. Not slowing down at age four, he again faced the starter 14 times with a $100,000 stakes win at Penn National and three additional stakes placings.

At age five, he developed into one of the nation's top older horses while racing 10 times, including nine starts in graded stakes. In April of that year, he won the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct and then ran third in both the G2 Suburban Stakes and G1 Whitney Stakes that summer.

The biggest of his seven career wins came in September of his 5-year-old season, when he won the G1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup going 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Park. Among the foes he defeated that day were Mendelssohn, Diversify, Gronkowski and the two-time Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow. All told, Discreet Lover compiled a record of 49-7-7-7 with earnings of $1,452,735.

Discreet Lover is out of the Discreet Cat mare Discreet Chat, who is a half sister to millionaire and Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Desert Code.

“Discreet Lover ran in 17 graded stakes and 17 other stakes during his career, so he went up against the best of the best and he proved himself to be a hard-trying and talented horse over his long career,” said Kerry Hopper. “He was precocious enough to win as a 2-year-old and even though most of his wins were going a route of ground, he also showed the ability to sprint when he had the chance, so we think he's going to be a versatile stallion and a good fit for the lucrative Indiana breeding program.”

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Indiana Grand To Host AQHA’s Bank Of America Challenge Championships In 2022

For the first time, the elite racing American Quarter Horses from around the world that gather for the Bank of America Challenge Championships will step onto that stage in the state of Indiana, as Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville, Indiana, welcomes the event in 2022.

“We are thrilled to partner with Indiana Grand to host this championship event,” said AQHA Chief Racing Officer Janet VanBebber. “This racetrack and its leadership have welcomed horsemen and promoted American Quarter Horse racing, and we look forward to the opportunity to host the 2022 Bank of America Challenge Championships at a new and growing venue.”

Indiana Grand will become one of only 10 racetracks in history to host the Bank of America Challenge Championships. The program, operated by the American Quarter Horse Association, provides greater opportunity to all racing American Quarter Horses. It offers stakes races held in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, and the horses that qualify through these races are invited to the season-ending Challenge Championships. There are races offered for older horses, fillies and mares, derby and futurity horses, as well as distance specialists. The program pours almost $3 million in purses into the industry every year.

In the past two years, five of the AQHA racing champions earned their championship titles with significant help from the horses' efforts in the Challenge program, with these collective horses earning more than 20 percent of their career earnings from Challenge races.

Indiana Grand has seen its product grow year-over-year, with a 5.3 percent increase in purses and a 35 percent jump in handle in the past five years. The track had the fifth-highest average handle per race for all Quarter Horse tracks in the country at $110,819.

In 2021, the racetrack will add two regional Bank of America Challenge stakes races to its program, including the $30,000-added John Deere Indiana Juvenile Challenge and the $20,000-added Merial Indiana Distaff Challenge.

“Being able to expand our American Quarter Horse program to include the Bank of America Challenge elevates our entire racing operations in Indiana,” said Eric Halstrom, Indiana Grand vice president and general manager of racing. “This challenge will shine a spotlight on our ever-growing American Quarter Horse industry and grant many of our local horsemen the opportunity to participate on a national level. We are excited to partner with AQHA on this endeavor and look forward to welcoming new American Quarter Horse participants and fans into Indiana for the first time in the history of the Challenge.”

To learn more about the Bank of America Racing Challenge, visit www.aqha.com/bank-of-america-racing-challenge.

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Driving To The Wire: Quarter Horse Jockey Shanley Jackson Also Pilots School Buses

Veteran jockey Shanley Jackson regularly inhabits two different worlds. On weekends, he pushes the limits of speed on horseback aboard Quarter Horse in races primarily at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind. On week days, however, the 58-year-old can be found driving kids to school in Leon County near his hometown of Tallahassee, Fla., according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Jackson has an uncle, also a bus driver, who inspired him to apply for the position five years ago. He now drives bus routes for Amos P. Godby High School, Griffin Middle School, and Fort Braden School.

This year, per Equibase, Jackson recorded nine winners from 76 mounts for earnings of $320,073, including a win aboard Beach Blast in the $192,400 Miss Roxie Little Futurity at Indiana Grand on Oct. 24. Overall, the jockey has a record of 279 wins from 2,133 starts with Quarter Horses, earning over $5.6 million.

While injury has played a role in his career, Jackson said he's not ready to walk away from the “rush” of race-riding.

“The way I feel now, I feel no different than when I first started. I guess I'll let my body tell me when enough is enough,” Jackson told the Tallahasseee Democrat. “As long as I stay young.”

Read more at the Tallahassee Democrat.

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Indiana Grand Approved For 120 Race Dates In 2021

Indiana Grand Racing & Casino received approval for 2021 racing dates Thursday, Dec. 10 at the monthly Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) meeting held at Indiana Grand. The schedule will offer 120 days of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing beginning Tuesday, April 13 and running through Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021.

Racing will start off with a hybrid schedule of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday racing in April moving to the full schedule of Monday through Thursday in May. Post times of 2:25 p.m. will be held Monday through Wednesday while Thursdays will adopt a post time of 3:25 p.m.

“We worked off our successful schedule from 2020 in cooperation with our horsemen's groups to determine the best possible days of the week for racing for both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing,” said Eric Halstrom, vice president and general manager of racing. “We feel we have found our niche during the week in those mid-afternoon start times. By moving Thursdays an hour later, we hope to attract the after-work crowd, which allows us to hold some fun events for the on-track racing guests and also puts us in an even better spot on the national simulcasting scene.”

A total of eight Saturdays will also be included on the schedule with Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing held on Saturday, May 1, which is Kentucky Derby Day, and Saturday, Oct. 30, which will be Indiana Champions Day. Post time for the two Saturdays featuring Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is set for 12 p.m.

Six All-Quarter Horse days have been allotted throughout the meet. Dates set exclusively for the sprinters include Saturday, June 5, Saturday, July 3, Saturday, July 24, Saturday, Aug. 14, Saturday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Oct. 9. Post times for the All-Quarter Horse dates is set for 10 a.m.

“We identified an opportunity to get our Quarter Horse signal out to more racing fans on Saturday mornings,” added Halstrom. “We saw tremendous growth in handle during this time and also saw good on-track crowds. We anticipate seeing even more growth for handle and on-track attendances for Quarter Horse racing in 2021.”

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