There was no stopping the gelding with one of the most identifiable names at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Stop Hammertime and Rodney Prescott made all the right moves to dance their way home as winners in the 19th running of the $100,000 William Henry Harrison Stakes Wednesday in Shelbyville.
“He’s been close to winning a stakes race before, but something always happened or didn’t work out,” said Tianna Richardville, who owns, trains and bred the gelding. “Rodney (Prescott) had a lot of confidence in him today, and he was right.”
The inside post in the 10-horse field didn’t help Stop Hammertime, who got away from the starting gate in mid pack as Maters N Taters and Andrea Rodriguez rallied out for the early lead. Good Sugar and Tommy Pompell and Dillsboro Devil and Edgar Morales tracked the early leader closely through the six-furlong sprint over a sloppy track.
Around the turn, the horses began to bunch up. Prescott had Stop Hammertime along the inside and identified a space to move to the extreme outside, ready to pounce once the stretch arrived. That’s just what Stop Hammertime did. He hit another gear and rallied home to pass up his opponents, winning by one-half length over Manuelito and Joshua Morales. Good Sugar finished third in the tight three-horse photo.
The time of the race was 1:12.08.
“He (Stop Hammertime) responded just like I hoped he would in the turn,” said Prescott on his strategic move. “He’s a pretty classy horse and he’s pretty consistent. He handled the dirt well in his face when we were on the inside and he handled the off track well. This race actually set up perfectly for him. I felt the speed would be there early for him to close in like he did.
Stop Hammertime earned his first stakes win in his 36th career start. The six-year-old son of Domestic Dispute now has six career wins with earnings of more than $275,000 for Richardville. He was a long shot on the board, paying $25.80 for the win.
“Rodney (Prescott) did a great job riding him,” said Richardville of Indiana’s all-time leading jockey and winner of more than 4,000 career races. “I saw him make his move in the turn. Rodney has been getting on him and working him all year. It means so much more when you watch them grow up as a baby and then get to this point.”
Richardville has a lot to look forward to with future members of Stop Hammertime’s family. She purchased a farm several years ago on the outskirts of Shelbyville on Mausoleum Road. There, she still has Stop Hammertime’s dam, Insure, and a few other prospects from the family. Plus, Insure is in foal to Looking Cool, Richardville’s recent stallion by Candy Ride that she added to her racing and breeding operation.
“This is the first year I’ve had a stallion of my own,” said Richardville, who runs her horses under her stable name, Thirstyacres Racing LLC. “We have a two-year-old from this mare that is getting broke right now named Abra Abra. And this sounds odd, but we have a five-year-old sister to ‘Hammer’ named Botox Katie that we have high hopes for. We didn’t get started with her until she was three. She had some setbacks, but she’s always show quite a bit of ability. She’s had one start so far and we are excited for her next race.”
