July 4, 2020 | Racing , Racing | Racing , Racing

Indiana Grand presented a 13-race all-Quarter Horse program on Saturday, and it was Williams Racing Stable Inc.'s WRS Apolliticalivory who stole the show.

Ridden by Shanley Jackson and sent to post as the 3-10 favorite in an eight-horse field, WRS Apolliticalivory won the card's lone stakes, the 400-yard, $102,120 Indiana Grand QHRAI Derby. The homebred son of Apollitical Blood defeated Mts Sixty Six Cartel by a clear two lengths in :19.934. Randy Smith prepped the bay gelding.

WRS Apolliticalivory was winning for the fifth time in seven outs, and the $56,166 winner's share of the purse from his first career stakes victory increased his earnings to $112,732.

“We gave his older sister away,” said Randy Williams. “The mare had two crooked-legged babies, so we ended up selling her. And then here comes ‘Ivory.’ There’s nothing crooked about his legs.”

Established in 1998 and based in La Center, Kentucky, Williams Racing Stable has bred numerous stakes winners that carry its “WRS” moniker, including Grade 1 winner WRS Special Shoe.

"Shanley told us in the barn earlier today that he had won a lot of races for us, but he'd never won a stakes for us," said Debbie Smith, Randy's wife. "He told us that was going to change. He was going to do it for us this time."

Jackson is riding full-time at Indiana Grand until the school year starts. The veteran jockey works as a bus driver for the Leon School District in his native Tallahassee, Florida.

"I'll be coming in and out of the meet later on," Jackson said. "I'm here full time now, but when school starts on August 19, I'll go back and drive the school bus, and then I'll come in for the trials and stakes races.

"I've only got a few more years before I retire from driving the bus, so I want to get that in," he added.

WRS Apolliticalivory has raced exclusively at Indiana Grand. He was stakes-placed twice at 2, finishing second in the Governor's Stakes and third in the Heartland Futurity.

My Pillow finished third and was followed by Passenger Train, Fast Soldier, Shes Relentlesswagon, A Ruby Corona, and SBM Soulja Boy.