Mister Pollard Wins $150k Govenor's Stake
Mister Pollard and rider Ricardo Santana Jr. were much the best in the 11th running of the $150,000-guaranteed Governor’s Stake at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino Wednesday, Aug. 6. The duo covered the one mile, 70 yard distance in a time of 1:41.64 as the second choice in the nine-horse field.
Starting from post nine could have proved to be a tough task for Mister Pollard. However, Santana, Jr. accepted the challenge and rallied out early to be within striking distance of the pace, set early by Just a Morgan and Octavio Vergara Jr. Mister Pollard sat patiently in third alongside Bourne Free and Olaf Hernandez through early fractions of :23.32 and :47.59.
Mister Pollard had obeyed his orders up until the final turn. The three-year-old son of Pollard’s Vision began his move and by the top of the stretch, was on the lead. That lead increased as he moved down the stretch, opening up to a seven and three-quarter length win. Notionofmine and Fernando De La Cruz rallied up for second over Huntstown and Malcolm Franklin, who saved ground along the inside to finish third.
“I had the best horse today,” said Santana, Jr. “Because of the outside post, I didn’t want to be in trouble. He was easy going the whole time and he was flying in the stretch.”
Mister Pollard coasted to his first win of 2014 in his sixth outing. Owned by Jim and Scott Farrar, Mike Johnson’s Falcon Racing Stable and Penny Lauer, he now has in excess of $240,000 in his career. Mister Pollard has never finished worse than third over Indiana Grand’s dirt surface in six lifetime starts for trainer Mike Lauer. His last start over the turf at Indiana Grand proved the change in surface did not agree with him.
“He (Mister Pollard) didn’t run well over the turf,” said Lauer. “In fact, I think that was probably the worst race of his life. I thought it might be tough out of the nine hole, but when I saw where he was and what horses were in front of him, I thought he was sitting perfect. I thought at the half-mile he would win it. He was running smoothly and at that point, it was his race to lose.”
Lauer has been associated with Mister Pollard his entire life. Lauer and his wife, Penny, raised the foal from their mare, Sweet Summer, at their farm located between Louisville, Ky. and Lexington, Ky. They have teamed up for many stakes winners in the state of Indiana over the years, including Dreamin Big, who is the richest Indiana bred female of all-time with nearly $550,000 in earnings.
“He (Mister Pollard) is a very calm, very classy little horse,” said Lauer. “He stood in the paddock like a police pony. He’s really a neat horse to be around.”
Mister Pollard paid $6.60, $3.80 and $2.80 across the board. All four of his career wins have now been recorded at Indiana Grand.