Solveig's big brother wins

Down The Middle, a 4-year-old full brother to last year's top stakes-winning 2-year-old filly Solveig, won a qualifier at The Red Mile Tuesday morning by 18 lengths in 1:58.1. But while Down The Middle is older than Solveig, the filly is slightly more experienced.



Down The Middle has only made nine lifetime starts while Solveig won eight of 12 last season while on her way to earning honors as the 2-Year-Old Filly Trotter of the Year. Both horses are by Yankee Glide and out of the broodmare Exquisite Amanda and were bred by Tom Crouch of Kentuckiana Farm.



Down The Middle showed talent early in his career, finishing fourth in the 2003 Peter Haughton Memorial won by Tom Ridge. But the colt was a handful, recalls Crouch.



"He showed a ton of talent, but he'd latch on pretty good," said Crouch. "It was a painful year to have a horse with that kind of talent but not get anywhere with him."



The following year Down The Middle's 3-year-old season was actually worse as he made just three pari-mutuel starts. Crouch says the horse's manners were his biggest obstacle, and thus he was gelded in the fall.



Crouch's partners wanted to sell the horse, so he was consigned to the Blooded Horse Sale. But Crouch knew of the colt's potential, and when the auction price didn't suit him, he brought him home.



Crouch took trainer Bob Stewart on as a partner and Stewart is training the horse at The Red Mile.



"You don't get a horse like him with this kind of speed very often, so we're just going to see if we can get him back to the races and have some fun," says Crouch of their strategy. "Hopefully we'll take him to Indiana and race him in lighter company. Right now it's just a matter of his manners."

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