by James Platz

Indiana-sired pacing mare Rockin Nola retired last season as one of the most decorated standardbreds in the state. While trainer and co-owner Joe Putnam acknowledged it is difficult to replace a horse of her caliber, he has another filly in the barn that is gamely filling the void. Sophomore Lyin’ Eyes recently picked up a 1:51.1 victory in Indiana Sires Stakes action at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, her third win in six seasonal starts.

“You can never replace one like Rockin Nola,” Putnam said. “She went to Kentucky to become a mama. This filly is doing her darndest to fill her shoes, and we’re happy about that.”

Putnam is known for developing young talent into stakes winners that go on to excel as older horses. He conditioned ABC Mercedes to multiple Indiana Sires Stakes finals wins and more than $1 million in earnings, the first Indiana-sired trotter to reach the milestone. Before her retirement last season, Rockin Nola had captured finals in the Hoosier State at ages 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. She finished her career just shy of the seven-figure mark with $988,147. With both horses, the veteran trainer was careful to not over-race them in any given season.

His approach with Lyin’ Eyes is no different. He maintains a big picture view, managing the filly’s starts with a plan in mind. As a freshman, she made eight attempts, hitting the board seven times with three wins. Putnam skipped the first three legs of sires stakes, taking a different path to the Super Final in October.

“That was kind of by design,” he said. “It seems like they go awful fast from the beginning. As time goes on it’s more so that way. She raced in an overnight and I think we were in a mini-series. By the time that was done, they were on leg 4. We decided let’s give her a shot in there. There were obviously a couple of really good fillies last year. We got lucky and got enough points. We won leg 6 and she raced really good in the final as well.”

Driven by Putnam’s son, Joey, the Odds On Equuleus—Miswave Hanover filly entered the Super Final last season on a two-race winning streak. Sent off as the second choice in the $250,000 contest, the duo finished second to Lets Go Endofaera over a sloppy racetrack. Lyin’ Eyes finished the season with $132,890 on her card.

“We had high hopes for her this year when we put her away last fall,” Joe said. “So far, it’s been good. She’s come back good. There are four or five nice fillies in that class and luckily, she’s one of them.”

Bred by Silver Linden Farms, Lyin’ Eyes is the second foal out of Miswave Hanover, a Somebeachsomewhere mare that captured an International Stallion Stake division as a freshman. The partnership of J P Racing LLC (Joe Putnam and Mike Johnson), Joey Putnam and Crazy Parrot Farm, LLC (Robert Baurys) picked the filly out of the Hoosier Classic sale for $21,000.

“We look at a lot of horses,” Joe said. “We look for something that’s not a small horse, but not necessarily a big, big horse. Looking for nice horses that grow into themselves. Seems like you need that in today’s world. I’ve had a few small horses do really well, but in the long run, especially with the speeds they go nowadays, you need a good-gaited horse that has some size and strength. That’s kind of what we look for. The first foal had talent. I think her sire is a very underrated horse. He’s had some nice horses from a limited number of foals. She kind of checked all the boxes.”

She checked all the boxes at the yearling sale, and this season she continues to check the boxes as a formidable sophomore slugging it out with other top 3-year-olds in the Indiana Sires Stakes program. Through five rounds, Lyin’ Eyes has managed to grab a pair of leg wins and three runner-up finishes, her latest victory coming July 26 at Hoosier Park. Lets Go Endofaera has collected four victories and leads the points, with Jada Caroline and Teelatini each scoring division wins. The filly has finished first or second in 11 of 14 career starts, and with her most recent sires stakes triumph, is on the verge of reaching $250,000 in earnings.

“She hasn’t raced a ton,” Joe said. “I think the other night was her 14th lifetime start. We knew the sires stakes weren’t going to start until Memorial Day weekend, so we kind of drug our feet on her and didn’t get her qualified until early May. That was by design. She’s eligible to everything here in Indiana throughout the year. A majority of those races outside of sires stakes legs are at the end of the year.

“The biggest challenge is how do we get her in top shape early and then hopefully manage her for the whole season. These races are spread out every few weeks. She’s an easy keeper and she’s real lazy jogging. She doesn’t do anything hard on herself. It’s just managing her, getting her through, keeping her happy and trying to survive to the end.”

Surviving until October’s Super Final and the open stakes that await after takes a team effort, and that includes the decisions Joey makes on the racetrack. Joe entrusted his son with driving Rockin Nola during a majority of her starts, and he likes how the younger reinsman has handled Lyin’ Eyes.

“He’s done a great job, as he has basically from day one,” Joe said. “He knows the goal is the big picture. The way they all race now it’s very aggressive racing. She’s had a couple starts where she’s been on the front. We try to balance that out. You can’t be on the front every week. He’s done a really good job of taking care of her and giving her trips and handled her very well.”

Lyin’ Eyes may never reach the standard set by Rockin Nola. That’s a lot to ask of any horse. But she continues to fill the void quite nicely while giving the partnership another filly with the ability to contend for Indiana divisional honors.