Indian Weaver broke his maiden in impressive fashion by winning the $40,000 Strong Ruler Stakes by 11 lengths on Saturday at Emerald Downs. Making his third career start, the 2-year-old Indian Weaver carried Ricky Frazier and 118 pounds over the 6 ½ furlongs in 1:18 4/5.The Washington-bred son of Basket Weave out of Go For Jackie returned $3.40, $2.60 and $2.40 as the 3-5 betting choice in the seven-horse field.The 11-length victory represents the second largest winning margin ever in an Emerald Downs' stakes race. Flying Notes holds the record of 11 ¼ lengths, which he set in the 2002 Emerald Downs Breeders' Cup Derby. Sundance Circle won last year's edition of the Strong Ruler Stakes by 10 ¾ lengths. Indian Weaver, trained by Frank Lucarelli, had finished second in his first two career starts, both of which were ran at the California fair circuit. "He was pretty tired when he shipped up," Lucarelli said, "but he popped out of it real quick. The owners wanted to run him in a maiden race here on Sunday. I told them this might be a better race for him to go into."Indian Weaver collected $17,325 with the win to increase his lifetime earnings to $28,295 for owners Curt and Lila Lanning.Kaptnwice, who went off at 30-1 odds, finished second and paid $12.40 and $5.80, while Smilodon returned $3.40 for show.
(Chart, Equibase)
