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'Gold-Star dead heat for Indiana Derby One set the pace, the other came from next to last, but in the end STAR DABBLER (Saint Ballado) and CIELO GOLD (Conquistador Cielo) both hit the line at the same time in the $513,200 Indiana Derby (G2) Saturday evening. With Richard Migliore aboard wearing the colors of Barry K. Schwartz, Star Dabbler was sent off the 3-1 second choice to return $4.60, $5 and $4 while keying exotics of $44 (1-5 exacta), $198 (1-5-4 trifecta) and $884.20 (1-5-4-11 superfecta). Hillcrest Farms Racing LLC's Cielo Gold and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. were worth $5, $10.40 and $5.80 at 16-1, wile on top of the $80.20 exacta (5-1), $476 trifecta (5-1-4) and $2,323.80 superfecta (5-1-4-11). Star Dabbler broke well from his rail post and proceeded to set the pace through splits of :22 1/5, :45 4/5, 1:10 1/5 and 1:36 1/5. All the while, the Hal Wiggins-trained Cielo Gold was biding his time after a tight start, slowly making up ground and eventually angled to midtrack. Catching the pacesetter, Cielo Gold gained a slight advantage, but Star Dabbler fought back. The two crossed under the wire at the same moment, five lengths clear of Smokeyjonessutton (You and I) in third, who paid $5.20 at 7-1. "This is such a nice horse," Migliore said of Star Dabbler. "When we got in the stretch, he stuck his toes in a little when he saw some tire tracks, but he got his mind back on his business and came back strong. He fought all the way to the wire." Mantoloking (Unbridled's Song), Plug Me In (Hold for Gold), Simon Pure (Silver Deputy), 3-5 favorite Bright One (Dance Brightly), Acts Like a King (Part the Waters), Jacinth (Crafty Prospector) and Summer Gulch (Brolly) completed the order of finish while Dr. Pleasure (Thunder Gulch) and Lewis Michael (Rahy) were both scratched. Star Dabbler and Cielo Gold both earned their first stakes victories with this one. The Michael Hushion-conditioned Star Dabbler previously ran second in the King's Bishop S. (G1) and now owns an 8-4-3-1, $319,936 record. Cielo Gold was second in the West Virginia Derby (G3) and fourth in the St. Louis Derby in his past two starts, and now boasts a 12-4-3-2 career mark with $474,311 in lifetime earnings. "The connections of this horse really did a good job preparing him for this race tonight," Hernandez said of Cielo Gold. "He was much stronger tonight than he was in his last start in the St. Louis Derby. I'm not sure where he will head after this race." Bred in Florida by Four Horseman's Ranch & the Saint Ballado Syndicate, Star Dabbler brought $180,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. He is out of the stakes-winning Meadow Silk (Meadowlake), making him a full brother to multiple stakes-placed Bay Head King and a half to the yearling colt Ten Bagger (Montbrook) and an unnamed 2006 filly by More Than Ready. Cielo Gold, bred by Catherine Parke & Robert Spiegler in Kentucky, RNA'd at $24,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. The dark bay is out of Grade 2 winner Private Light (Private Account), who has also produced Grade 2-placed Sailor's Warning (Storm Cat) and an unnamed yearling colt by Tale of the Cat.
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