Erv Miller liked the direction Geez Joe was heading last winter, as the gelding had registered four wins in a seven-race span that saw him miss the board only once. In a turn of bad luck, the five-year-old pacer then required throat surgery in January and was sidelined for more than seven months.

Geez Joe returned in September and looks to be rounding back into form as he heads to Saturday’s $186,000 Allerage Farms Open Pace at Lexington’s Red Mile.

Geez Joe has won two of four races since returning to action. He enters the Allerage off of a 1:47.4 win in the open handicap at Harrah’s Hoosier Park on September 27. In his prior start, the gelding was eighth in the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby, but closed with the race’s second-fastest final quarter-mile, :25.4, to make up six lengths and finish three and a half lengths behind winner This Is The Plan.

“He’s come back really [well] so far,” said Miller, who trains Geez Joe for owner Bay Pond Racing Stable. “He was in Indiana against these horses, but he really wasn’t ready and he drew outside some (Post 7). This will be his bigger test. Hopefully he’s more ready for them this time.”

Geez Joe, by Roll With Joe out of Beach Bretta, has won 19 of 59 career races and earned $242,978.

“We always liked him,” Miller said. “He’s just a really big horse and had to catch up to himself. He’s starting to show that. He’s always showed good speed, he just had some aches and pains from being a big guy there early on. He’s starting to put it together as an older horse. It just took him a while to get there.”

Geez Joe will start the Allerage from Post 6 with driver Marcus Miller and is 12-1 on the morning line.

“He’s pretty versatile,” Miller said. “You can leave and put him in a race, or he can come from out of it. That’s what I like most about him.

“If he races well this week, we’ll probably keep on going,” the trainer added about a possible trip to the Breeders Crown later this month.

McWicked is the 5-2 early favourite in the Allerage pace. He won the Ewart Memorial on Sept. 7 at Scioto Downs and heads to Saturday’s start off a second-place finish behind Jimmy Freight in the Dayton Pacing Derby. He was sixth in the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby.

Saturday’s card at Red Mile also includes the $145,000 Allerage Farms Open Trot, $216,000 Glen Garnsey Memorial for three-year-old filly pacers, and four divisions of the International Stallion Stakes for two-year-old male pacers.

Lindy The Great, fresh off his victory in the Caesars Trotting Classic, which is part of a five-race win streak, is the 2-1 early favourite in the Allerage trot. He will start from Post 2 with Louis-Philippe Roy driving for trainer Domenico Cecere.

Warrawee Ubeaut, who will be making her first start since winning the Jugette on September 18, is the 7-5 early favourite in the Glen Garnsey. She will start from Post 3 with Yannick Gingras at the lines for trainer Ron Burke.

Racing will begin at 1 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday.

(USTA)