Indiana Derby

'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.