Dillsboro Devil surprises in Crown Ambassador Stakes

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Oct. 28, 2020) – It was a night of upsets during the inaugural Indiana Champions Day at Indiana Grand, and one of those surprises was recorded in the 22nd running of the $75,000 Crown Ambassador Stakes. Dillsboro Devil and Marcelino Pedroza came into the race off a maiden breaking win and exited as stakes winners.

Trained by John Langemeier, Dillsboro Devil was impressive in his racing debut, scoring a win by open lengths a few weeks before the Crown Ambassador Stakes. However, the son of Skylord was making a big jump up into stakes action, which was not a problem for the gelding. He handled it like a seasoned professional, getting involved in the action early. Heavily favored Betsdownletsride, with Emmanuel Esquivel aboard, was undefeated, including a stakes victory in his last race, and was heavily favored in the Crown Ambassador.

Dillsboro Devil stayed right with Betsdownletsride all the way down the backstretch and was not going to give in easily. The duo moved around the turn together before Dillsboro Devil got a slight advantage for the stretch run.

In the stretch, Dillsboro Devil was the one to catch, opening up on the field and winning by one and one-half lengths. Rockin All Night and Rodney Prescott took on Betsdownletsride for a hard-fought stretch duel with Rockin All Night getting the edge at the finish. Time for the six-furlong sprint was 1:12.53.

Owned and bred by Langemeier’s Spooky Hollow Racing, Dillsboro Devil is now two for two in his brief career. He is based at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky. and now possesses in excess of $66,000.

“He had some difficulties leaving the gate in his last start, but we got that ironed out,” said Langemeier. “He has shown a lot of promise in the mornings and you just hope a horse like this will transfer that over to the afternoon. I’m not sure where his next start will be, but we will definitely take a look at the stakes race here at the end of the meet (Indiana Futurity, Nov. 17).”

It was the second stakes win on the day for Pedroza, who also connected with Fireball Baby in the $100,000 Lady Fog Horn. Pedroza, who was the 2019 Leading Jockey at Indiana Grand, was sidelined with an injury earlier this summer and has been back on track less than two months. In that time, he has worked his way into the top 10 this season with 29 wins and in excess of $725,000 in purse earnings.

For Langemeier, it was his fourth win of the meet in very limited starts. The Cincinnati native, who has a master’s degree in Genetics, has been a longtime trainer, mainly on the Kentucky circuit. Prior to becoming a trainer, he worked on several Kentucky horse farms, including Calumet Farm. Today, he and his wife, Dr. Clara Fenger, own and operate Spooky Hollow Farm in Georgetown, Ky. and Langemeier has the occasional Indiana bred to bring to Indiana Grand. He is also the conditioner of the Indiana stakes placed Plainfield.

Photo by Coady Photography