Pass The Crown Upsets in Brickyard
Pass The Crown and rider Chris Emigh surprised everyone with a win in the 15th running of the $84,000 Brickyard Stakes Saturday, Aug. 27 at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. The duo covered the six-furlong event in a time of 1:10.4 to earn the first stakes win for Pass The Crown.
Chris Emigh was a late addition to Pass the Crown for trainer Merrill Roberts, who started an entry in the 12-horse field. Tommy Pompell, regular rider of both Pass The Crown and Indy Bull, opted to ride the older, more experienced Indy Bull. Only three-years-old and unraced at two, Pass The Crown was making only his fourth lifetime start and his first among stakes competition.
Starting from post seven, Emigh used just enough energy to get Pass The Crown out of the gate and over into fourth place as Our Rock Star and Brian Hernandez and Indy Bull connected together for the front spot. Pass The Crown was content to sit patiently behind and follow along until the final turn arrived.
In the turn, Pass The Crown moved up to the front pair, sitting on the outside until they straightened for home. In the stretch, Pass The Crown battled with Our Rock Star for a few strides before taking over and moving into the lead. A hard charging Liepers Fork and Orlando Mojica started closing in from the outside but they could not reach Pass The Crown, who took home the top prize by only a neck over the 10-year-old veteran campaigner Liepers Fork. Our Rock Star held on gamely for third along the inside.
“I picked up this horse (Pass The Crown) earlier in the day,” said Emigh. “I talked to Tommy Pompell because he’s ridden him in all of his starts and he told me this horse could run. I got away third and just tried to keep him in a good spot until the stretch. When he cleared, I knew that horse (Liepers Fork) was closing in and I was just looking for the finish line.”
Pass The Crown is owned by MC Roberts Racing Stable of Indianapolis and increased his career earnings to nearly $100,000. The Indiana-bred joins his father, Pass Rush, as a stakes winner at Hoosier Park. Pass Rush, who is a Graded Stakes winner and competed in the 2002 edition of the Indiana Derby, has three stakes wins over Hoosier Park’s racetrack. Pass The Crown is now two for two at Hoosier Park. This is the first Hoosier Park stakes win for Roberts, who operates his own training center in Central Indiana and is a long-time trainer in Indiana.
The win for Emigh was his 10th of the season. The 40-year-old accomplished rider is spending his first season at Hoosier Park and is now among the track’s top five riders. Emigh has several leading rider titles from Hawthorne Racecourse and also secured a title from Arlington Park. He has more than 3,200 career wins and more than $62 million in purse earnings.
“The economy got bad and racing in Illinois has continued to decline,” said Emigh. “I thought it would be a good move to come to Hoosier Park this year. The purse structure is good and I thought it would be good to get my foot in the door.”
Although Emigh was born in Virginia, he grew up in Louisiana and got his start around Louisiana Downs, earning his first win at Evangeline Downs. He later relocated to Chicago and has been a mainstay among the leading riders there for nearly 15 years. Emigh has fared well at Oaklawn Park the past two seasons and was a top 10 leading rider there as well. He has several Graded Stakes wins to his credit, including the 2008 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn and the 1996 Hawthorne Gold Cup.
Photo by Linscott Photography