Amigo Volo won the Kentucky Futurity three years ago and on Sunday his speedy half-sister Mommamia Volo will attempt to capture the $320,000 Kentucky Filly Futurity, for three-year-old female trotters, at Lexington’s Red Mile.

Five races later, Tactical Approach will try to join the list of horses to win at least two jewels of the Trotting Triple Crown when he competes against 10 other three-year-old male trotters in the $450,000 Kentucky Futurity. In August, Tactical Approach won the Hambletonian, the Crown’s second jewel. He is the 3-1 morning-line favourite in the Futurity.

Mommamia Volo is the season’s fastest sophomore filly trotter, and her time of 1:50 on Sept. 17 at the Red Mile missed equaling the quickest mile in history by a three-year-old female trotter by only one-fifth of a second.

A daughter of Tactical Landing-Margarita Momma, Mommamia Volo was developed slowly by trainer Carter Pinske, who along with Nifty Norman also trained Amigo Volo. Mommamia Volo had two wins, including an International Stallion Stakes score, and a second as a two-year-old but went off stride in her remaining four races as a freshman.

“Pretty early on in her training career, Carter realized we were going to have to be patient with her,” said Ken Jackson of Kentuckiana Racing Stable, which shares ownership of the homebred filly with co-breeder Jorgen Jahre Jr.

“She was a real tall gangly filly originally. But there was just something about her that we felt was special. You would see it at times in races, but then there would be a hiccup. But she did show real talent. You could see how she could close and what a big gait she had.”

Trotting hobbles were added this year and Mommamia Volo’s connections believed the filly would be their horse for August’s Hambletonian Oaks, but health issues derailed that plan. Again, it was a time for patience.

“She could have gone, we felt like she would have been competitive, but Carter stepped up and wanted to see her skip the race to focus on Lexington and the back end of the year. Obviously, it was a great choice by everybody involved.”

Since returning to Lexington from a three-race summertime campaign at The Meadowlands, Mommamia Volo has won three of six races at Lexington’s Red Mile. She has shown her best form most recently, with a second followed by back-to-back wins.

In the second-place finish to Dan Patch Award-winner Special Way, Mommamia Volo closed with a :25.2 last quarter-mile to miss by a neck. Two weeks later, she won the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series final by 1-1/2 lengths over Special Way with her 1:50 mile. Last week, she took a division of the Bluegrass Stakes by 3-1/4 lengths in 1:51, with a last quarter in :25.4.

“This filly is starting to show that she has a lot of confidence in herself,” Jackson said. “She can really roll. She covers a lot of ground. I think she’s a special filly. Carter has made some adjustments that really helped her. She really seems to be enjoying it right now.”

Jackson, who saw Kentuckiana Racing Stable win the 2020 Kentucky Filly Futurity with Julie Miller-trained Love A Good Story as part of an ownership group that also included Pinske Stables, is enjoying it all as well.

“You’re in the business, of course, to make money, sell high-priced yearlings, and all of that, but what keeps you going is the friendships and the relationships you build,” he said. “We’ve had a long relationship with Jorgen and his family, now with more involvement with Anders, his son. We’ve had a longtime friendship and partnership with the Pinske family. You could match up those relationships, and the length of all that, and it’s been a blast for us to experience this together. She’s been a fun one.”

Mommamia Volo will start Sunday from post three in a field of 11 with regular driver Todd McCarthy. She is the 5-1 third choice on the morning line.

Special Way, whose only loss in five races this year was the setback to Mommamia Volo, is the 3-1 favourite from post seven with Tim Tetrick in the sulky for the first time for trainer Ake Svanstedt. The 4-1 second choice, Special Way’s stablemate Bond, will leave from post nine with Svanstedt handling the driving.

“We got lucky with the draw, but it’s going to be a tough one,” Jackson said. “Honestly, if anyone won that race, it would not surprise you. But it’s exciting for us that Jorgen and his son are here. We’ll all be out there Sunday cheering her on.”

In the Futurity, Tactical Approach will start from post seven with Scott Zeron driving for trainer Nancy Takter.

Zeron won the 2016 Kentucky Futurity with Marion Marauder, completing a sweep of the Trotting Triple Crown. Nine trotters have captured the Triple Crown, which began in 1955 and also includes the Yonkers Trot. An additional 20 horses have won two jewels, most recently Six Pack in 2018 (Yonkers Trot and Kentucky Futurity).

Tactical Approach heads to the Futurity, which is limited to a field of 11 based on 2023 earnings, off a career-best 1:50.1 victory in a division of the Bluegrass Stakes last week at the Red Mile.

"He has shown he can repeatedly do well if I have him in the right position," said driver Zeron after last week's win. "Sometimes I’ve had him out of position. He’s honestly a driver’s dream. When he heads into the last turn, he tells you he wants to go.”

For the season, the son of Tactical Landing-Sarcy has won seven of 14 races, hit the board another five times, and earned $752,489.

Other horses going to the Futurity off victories are Celebrity Bambino, who won the Canadian Trotting Classic on Sept. 23 at Woodbine Mohawk Park; Ari Ferrari J, who won the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series final on Sept. 17 at the Red Mile; and Bluegrass winners Oh Well and Kilmister, both from the stable of trainer Marcus Melander.

Yonkers Trot winner Up Your Deo was not entered in the Futurity.

Racing begins at 1 p.m. (EDT). For more on the entire card, click here. For a free program courtesy The Red Mile, click here.

(USTA)