(Chicory Blaze wins the To Much Coffee ‘Cap at Horseshoe Indy on Wednesday / All Photos by Coady Media)

From the Horseshoe Indianapolis Media Team / Tammy Knox:

Chicory Blaze on fire in $150,000 To Much Coffee Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis

 

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Wednesday, September 30, 2026) – What a season it’s been for Chicory Blaze and Rodney Prescott. The duo scored their third straight win, this time in the 29th running of the $150,000 To Much Coffee Handicap during Hoosier Day at Horseshoe Indianapolis. The race is named in honor of one of the first standout Thoroughbreds when pari-mutuel racing was implemented in the state in the mid-1990s.

Chicory Blaze went unnoticed out of the gate. The field of 12 included a lot of early speed horses who grabbed the spotlight from the starting gate. Chicory Blaze broke last with Tiz Eddie and Mitchell Murrill as the first ones out of the gate.

The good early break placed Tiz Eddie on the lead from the inside with Takeitandrun and Fernando De La Cruz joining them on the outside. The two horses traveled around the first turn together to keep the tempo lively before Tiz Eddie backed off, allowing Takeitandrun to move onto the lead in singular fashion. Jazzole and Emmanuel Esquivel were hustled out of the gate from the outside post and had moved up on the outside of Tiz Eddie down the backstretch.

In the final turn of the one and one-sixteenth mile race, Tiz Eddie was back out and beginning to move on Takeitandrun. Horses from the back of the pack began to close in, including Chicory Blaze followed by Kingsbury Road and Santo Sanjur. In the stretch, Chicory Blaze began to battle Sir Bahjy first, then took on Takeitandrun, who was holding on gamely along the inside. In the final strides, it was Sir Bahjy that created the biggest threat in the final strides, but Chicory Blaze was in full control, coasting under the wire by a length over Sir Bahjy. Kingsbury Road finished another half-length back in third.

Chicory Blaze was a mild upset winner, paying $15.60 for the win. He now has back to back premier racing wins, pairing his To Much Coffee win with a victory in the $100,000 Bucchero in late August. Overall, Chicory Blaze has six wins and is three for five in 2026 for owners Joe and Stacy Hickman, who bred and raised the four-year-old gelding by Alternation. Robert Dobbs Jr. trains the chestnut, who pushed his career bankroll to more than $437,000 with his latest win.

“He (Chicory Blaze) actually hopped at the start and was last out of the gate,” said Dobbs, who relocated to Indiana a decade ago to make Horseshoe Indianapolis his home base. “He can get a little fractious in the gate, and it took a little time to get everyone in the gate today. He was still last going into the final turn, so he had a big race today.”

It was another big win for the Hickmans, who have recently started their own breeding operation on their farm outside of Bloomington, Ind. The true Indiana University Hoosier fans have a lot to celebrate this season with the undefeated football team at IU as well as their standout Thoroughbred, who was their first baby from their newly developed breeding operation.

“He (Chicory Blaze) is a pretty hard running horse that tries all the time,” added Dobbs. “He’s three for three on the turf, but he’s made most of his money on the dirt. He runs pretty hard either way.”

Dobbs Jr., who has had the horse in his barn since his two-year-old year, hopes to have Chicory Blaze on the upcoming Indiana Champions Day card slated for Saturday, October 24 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Prescott, a native of Portland, Ind. and a winner of more than 4,100 career races with more than 1,000 recorded at Horseshoe Indianapolis, has been aboard Chicory Blaze in all 12 of his career starts. The partnership hopes he has a chance to hit one more premier race this season.

“There is a handicap for him that day, so I hope we race on Champions Day,” said Dobbs Jr.

The 24th season of live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse extends through Friday, November 13. Indiana’s top Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses will be featured Saturday, October 24 during the seventh annual Indiana Champions Day. For more information on racing at Horseshoe Indianapolis, visit www.caesars.com/horseshoe-indianapolis/racing or find details on social media @HSIndyRacing.

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