quotes by James Platz / race details by Frank Cotolo for the Breeders Crown

Diamond Creek’s Adam Bowden admits he might have made a mistake selling Bond, winner of the $600,000 Breeders Crown final for 3-year-old trotting fillies on Saturday (Oct. 28) at Harrah’s Hoosier Park in a 1:51.2 track record.

After all, Bowden is trying to further an already elite broodmare band, which is the reason he keeps some yearlings and sells others.

Still, he said he was proud to have bred Bond, who was driven to victory by her trainer, Ake Svanstedt.

“This is the culmination of all the hard work and stress and everything else. I screwed up and sold the mare,” Bowden said, laughing. “Somebody else is the beneficiary of that and they’ve had great success with the mare, but it’s kind of fun to celebrate.”

Svanstedt had his filly in the thick of the mile from the start, sitting second behind Rose Run Yolanda and ahead of Baroness Hill. Bond left those two behind after a :26.3 first panel and took authority with a move to the top into a :56.4 half.

It was Svanstedt’s other entry, Special Way, making the only challenge in the mile, taking the lead into a swift 1:24 three-quarters. Bond chased her stablemate and in deep stretch, got to her, and won by a half-length.

Special Way completed the exacta. Railee Something was third and Rose Run Yolanda was best of the rest.

About the late duel with his other trainee, Svanstedt said, “The only [way] to beat Special Way was to go behind her in the stretch,” and Bond picked up the momentum to become the winner at the wire. He was obviously happy about another win in the series, saying his weekend was “going great so far.”

He said from the start he felt Bond had a “special thing” about her. Bond’s sophomore season has been tougher than her campaign at 2, but the issues were resolved, he said.

Svanstedt’s stable continues to prosper, picking up its third Breeders Crown of the weekend, and he was quick to say, “I’ve never had as many nice horses as I do this year. I am happy. It’s easy to go out every morning to train the horses.”

Ake Svanstedt Inc., Little E LLC, and L Berg Inc. own Bond, a daughter of Southwind Frank—Boccone Dolce that Diamond Creek sold for $80,000 at the 2021 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. Bond has now earned $1.39 million in two years of competition. She has 15 wins in 21 career starts.

Sent off as the 1-5 favorite, she paid $2.60 to win.