Grade II winner Bourbon Courage proved an easy winner last time out in the Super Derby (gr. II) at 1 1/8 miles. Now, the 3-year-old son of Lion Heart is being asked to shorten up to 1 1/16 miles in the Indiana Derby (gr. II) at Hoosier Park.
The Indiana Derby, the 12th and last race on the Saturday Oct. 6 card, has attracted a field of a dozen 3-year-olds. The race, worth $500,000, is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.
Trained by Kellyn Gorder for Bourbon Lane Stable and Wayne Lynn, Bourbon Courage has raced exclusively in graded stakes after starting the year with two wins. After finishing fourth in the Derby Trial Stakes (gr. III) and fifth in the Woody Stephens (gr. II), he ran second, beaten a half length, in the West Virginia Derby (gr. II) in his first try at 1 1/8 miles. He followed that effort with a sharp, five-length score in the Super Derby. L.R. Goncalves will be in the saddle for the second straight time.
Bourbon Courage's conqueror in the Matt Winn, A.S Miles Jr.’s Neck 'n Neck, later was sent to Saratoga after the race. Neck 'n Neck, by Flower Alley, finished second, two lengths behind Alpha , in the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II), and then ran fifth behind the winning deadheated duo of Alpha and Golden Ticket in the 1 1/4-mile Travers Stakes (gr. I).
The Indiana Derby boasts four others going for a second straight graded stakes win. Easter Gift, by Hard Spun , won the Smarty Jones Stakes (gr. III) at Parx Racing in September.
Two others, Second City and Stealcase, were graded winners in September in Canada. Second City, by Distorted Humor , captured the British Columbia Derby (Can-III) to remain unbeaten in four starts. Stealcase, by Lawyer Ron, took the Ontario Derby (Can-III). His earlier races included a third to Paynter in the Haskell Invitational Stakes (gr. I).
O'Prado Again, who also is going for a second consecutive graded stakes score, figures to have a tough go of it. The son of El Prado hasn't been out since winning the Remsen Stakes (gr. II) in New York last November.
The Indiana Derby fields also boasts additional 2012 stakes winners Fed Biz (by Giant's Causeway ) and Junebugred (by Corinthian ), and plus 2011 stakes winner Adirondack King (by Lawyer Ron). Others in the field include grade II stakes-placed Morgan's Guerrilla (by Ghostzapper ), stakes-placed Afford (by Street Sense ), and Tritap (by Tapit ).