Graber has yet another promising trotting filly in Bluebird Kazoom
by James Platz
Bluebird Kazoom started the season racing in another state, conditioned by a different trainer for a former partnership. Wednesday evening (June 10), the sophomore trotting filly collected her first Indiana Sires Stakes leg, winning for the seventh time in 2026 with a 1:54 effort. Now trained by Henry Graber, Jr., she won by nearly six lengths as the favorite in the $49,000 contest.
Prior to the opening round of sires stakes held on Memorial Day at Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, Bluebird Kazoom pieced together an impressive streak competing in Ohio. The Swan For All—Stella Kemp lass, then owned by Hoosiers Orva Bontrager, Jr. and Isaiah Schwartz, went five-for-five at Northfield Park for trainer Brian Miller. She capped her time in the Buckeye State with a more than five-length romp in the $20,000 final of the Hunter Myers Memorial Series, trotting in 1:57. The filly was listed on onGait.com, and a partnership that includes Hillside Stables, Indiana Stables LLC, Hickory Hollow Stables, and Michael Rosenthal, topped all prospective buyers with a $50,200 bid.
“I was watching her race at Northfield and I had an agent contact me saying she was for sale,” Graber, Jr. said. “You know, she was winning pretty easily, but it was kind of hard to gauge how she’s going to be at Hoosier. It’s just a completely different track.”
Nineteen days after her final Northfield start, Indiana-sired Bluebird Kazoom made her debut for the new connections, trying her hand in the state’s top program. Despite the Northfield streak, the filly was still a work in progress. At 2 she attempted to qualify at Hoosier Park but made a pair of breaks. When arriving in Graber, Jr.’s barn, he was greeted with a challenge.
“She was really good, but the trainer had told me that she was interfering on the right hind,” the conditioner said. “We left the same shoes on her for the first start and just made a couple of equipment changes, it didn’t help her any.”
Steered by Jordan Ross, Bluebird Kazoom raced fifth in the field of six throughout the circuit, timed in 1:55.3. Graber, Jr. began making shoeing changes in hopes of improving the filly. In a June 6 start for Indiana Sires Stakes eligible fillies the trotter collected her first win for the new connections. Again, guided by Ross, the second choice took the lead after a :28.1 first panel and proceeded to click off fractions of :58 and 1:27.2 before stopping the clock in 1:54.2. Although she reached the winner’s circle, shoeing was still an issue late in the race.
“She had a shoe come off right at the wire,” Graber, Jr. said. “Jordan told me he could see when it started getting really loose around the fair start line. He just had to hold her together, but he said she felt like she could go more.”
Graber, Jr. continued to fine-tune Bluebird Kazoom’s shoeing. Bred by Daryl Miller, Delvin Miller, and Kenneth Bontrager, the 3-year-old was sent off as the favorite in the second round of sires stakes action after the scratch of Fresh Face Yankee in Wednesday’s fourth race. Lining up in post 4, Ross settled in the pocket shortly after the wings folded and then placed her on the engine after the quarter. Bluebird Kazoom commanded the field the rest of the way, reaching three-quarters with a two-length advantage and building on the margin all the way to the wire.
“It’s still not quite 100 per cent; I’d say it’s 98 per cent better,” Graber, Jr. said of the shoeing. “I think we’ve got 13 days in between sires stakes starts, so we’ll fiddle around with the back end a little bit and see if we can get her to clear 100 per cent.”
Three races, three different shoeing configurations. However, the filly is getting dialed in, and her last effort produced a career best time. Now a winner in seven of eight, Bluebird Kazoom has banked $62,225.
“She’s put together really nice,” Graber, Jr. said. “She’s kind of long. But her back end, she just handles her back feet a little differently than what most trotters would. She’s got a really good attitude.”
Last season, Graber, Jr. sent out a trio of top trotting fillies that dominated the sophomore trotting filly division at Hoosier Park. Bluebird Kazoom will carry the torch for the stable, and the conditioner has already noted differences between last year’s crop and his newest addition.
“She’s a little different than the other fillies we’ve had,” he said. “We had trouble getting them to eat and keeping weight on them. She eats everything you give her. She just loves going out in the morning. She’ll jog, and then she’ll go back for a while in the afternoon. But the other fillies, they went out, but they were banging at the gate shortly after they went out. They didn’t want to stay out. She’ll go out, run around a little bit, and eat grass until you get her in.”
Despite the differences, Graber, Jr. hopes that Bluebird Kazoom can replicate some of last year’s success with the trifecta of Miracle Maven, Better Tak’em, and Classical Jane. She needs to continue her progression to take on the best in the group, led by 2-year-old divisional champ For Dayze, a winner in both sires stakes legs she has contested.
“If I can dial her in 100 per cent, I’m not saying we can beat them, but I don’t think they’re going to embarrass her,” Graber, Jr. said. “We haven’t seen the bottom yet. I’m just hoping we don’t have to see it yet. Jordan was pretty impressed. He said that she did it pretty easy the other night.”
