by James Platz

Indiana Sires Stakes competition for sophomore pacers and trotters kicked off on Memorial Day (May 26) at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. Chalk horses carried the day, with favorites or second choices capturing seven of the eight divisions in the program’s top tier. The lone exception? Pacing filly Vel Cinderella. Sent off at 86-1 odds, the Keystone Velocity—The Filly Princess sophomore and driver Marcus Miller turned heads with a 1:53.2 upset for trainer Rob Rittof, returning $174 in victory.

“She just goes out there and tries, you know, she gives you a hundred and ten percent, gives you her all,” Rittof said of Vel Cinderella. “We had the 8-hole. I told Marcus when we were going out just figure out how to make us some money. If it’s a check, it’s great and if it’s a win, it’s even better.”

The final result turned out to be a whole lot better. The Doug Overhiser-owned pacer picked up the lion’s share of the $49,500 purse in a race where favored Tarshish was pulled up racing into the last turn. Vel Cinderella capitalized on the opportunity, sprinting home in 26 seconds flat to overtake second choice Odds On Alexandria and win by a length. While the victory was a pleasant surprise for the owner, the shock came in learning the filly’s long-shot status afterward.

“It’s weird how life works, right?” Overhiser said. “I was on the phone with somebody, I’m watching the race on TV, so I’m half paying attention and half having a conversation. And, you know, the race goes off, and of course, in the middle of the conversation, I start yelling and screaming because I can see that it’s going to be close, she might win. And then as the race is over, they go 86-1, and I was like, ‘What?’ I looked at my wife, my wife looked at me and was like, ‘How did you not bet her?’ And I’m like, ‘I didn’t know.’ I absolutely just didn’t know, or she would not have been 86-1.”

Hindsight being what it is, there may be some scratching their heads that Vel Cinderella was the next to longest shot on the board in Monday’s contest. Overhiser and Rittof were quick to note that the filly is small in stature. That didn’t deter the owner from spending $19,000 to purchase her out of the Hoosier Classic sale in 2023, admitting he paid more than he anticipated for the pacer bred by Mo Coo Inc. of New York.

“I really thought we’d get her very, very cheap, like $8,000 was what I assumed,” Overhiser said. “And so, I kind of locked in on her, really, really liking her, talking myself more and more into it. And I just kept going. The other thing that got me was there was a Keystone Velocity that won the Jugette that year [Ucandoit Blue Chip], and I said, ‘Why not?’”

When digging into her past performance lines, Vel Cinderella’s freshman campaign reveals a filly that finished on the board in six of seven contests. She began last season racing in Illinois on the fair circuit in the Topline series. Making her second seasonal start at the Effingham County Fair, Vel Cinderella broke the 80-year-old track record for 2-year-olds with a 1:58.3 performance. In all, the filly won four Topline events before moving to Indiana Sires Stakes, making two starts and finishing second each time out.

“I give a lot of kudos to Doug,” the conditioner said. “He let me kind of take it easy with her because she’s not that big of a horse and, you know, I don’t think too many horses start at the Illinois Topline and race at Springfield and DuQuoin in the Topline and then sneak over to Hoosier for sires stakes. But it worked out really good for her. We were hoping to make the consolation and then she was second twice and we made the final.”

Despite drawing post 9 and never seeing the rail in the $250,000 Super Final, Vel Cinderella managed a fifth-place finish under the guidance of Yannick Gingras, pacing the mile in 1:52.3.

“When he came back after the race, he kind of had a big old grin and said, ‘She raced huge, you know, parked the mile and he couldn’t find any hole; I just didn’t want him to come back and put the lines up and say she’s no good,” Rittof said of Gingras’ reaction. “He was very pleased with her. But everybody has liked her. She had five different guys drive her last year and everyone came back and liked her.”

Long before Vel Cinderella’s Memorial Day triumph, Overhiser set his sights on one of the sport’s coveted stakes, a prize fit for a princess in the making. Give him credit for dreaming big and taking major swings.

“Rob and I have been talking about this since her first fair win in Illinois last year,” Overhiser said. “We’re going to take her to the Jugette. Anybody who’s ever listened to me, I’ve said it since this little filly raced her first race. That’s where we’re going unless she tells us differently.”

A lot of details must fall into place over the next four months, but the owner and trainer are set on managing Vel Cinderella’s schedule so that she qualifies for October’s Super Final, while also competing on Delaware’s banked oval. A shot at the Jugette would serve as the ultimate glass slipper.

“The look on his face winning that sire stake the other night was incredible,” Overhiser said of his trainer. “Can you imagine the look on that guy’s face if he won the Jugette?”