On Tuesday (Aug. 6), Its A Love Thing made her first visit to the Bluegrass State a victorious one to stake her claim as a top contender in her division with a 1:49.4 triumph in the first $111,111 leg of the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series for three-year-old filly pacers.

Leaving from post position five in the field of six, the David Menary-trainee allowed Direction (Todd McCarthy) to establish the first split of the mile of :28 seconds while she and pilot James MacDonald commenced their journey in third. Bath Bomb (Yannick Gingras) sat in second.

It did not take long, however, for Its A Love Thing to assert her power as the daughter of Bettors Delight-Love For Sail briskly took control before the half-mile marker in :55.3. From there on her rivals gave chase but to no avail as the filly swept by the quarter-pole in 1:23 and paced a :26.4 final quarter-mile to win by three-quarters of a length to grace the winner’s circle for the very first time in Lexington.

Direction and Bath Bomb raced well in the drive for the wire to place second and third with :26.4 and :26.3 last panels.

Its A Love Thing paid $2.24 as the heavy favourite she deserved to be. The filly was fourth in the $700,000 Breeders Crown final as a freshman and captured the $540,000 Shes A Great Lady Final as one of her six wins in 12 trips to the post in 2023. The win was her fourth consecutive pari-mutuel win.

This year, Its A Love Thing annexed the $425,000 Fan Hanover final at Woodbine Mohawk Park and the $136,986 Jerry Silverman Memorial at the Meadowlands on Meadowlands Pace night.

Owned by Erik Good, Thomas Biederman, Joshua Green and Rich Lombardo Racing, Its A Love Thing is the first foal out of the Captaintreacherous mare Love For Sail.

Her granddam is the Western Ideal mare West Side Glory, who also foaled dual Dan Patch Award winner and world champion See You At Peelers (Bettors Delight, $1.57 million) and Live Entertainment (Real Artist, $230,502).

Its A Love Thing was bred by Marvin Katz, Lynn Katz and Al Libfield and went through the ring at the 2022 Standardbred Horse Sale for $65,000 to her current owners.

The filly has now banked $1,124,530 from a 20-start career record of 12-4-1.

Capytreach Upsets in Commonwealth Series Leg

Andy Miller and Capytreach denied Real Deal Lindy (Gingras) and favoured Defining Moment (David Miller) a victory by stopping the clock in 1:50.1, a new lifetime best, at odds of 18-1 in the first $41,667 leg of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for sophomore filly pacers.

The daughter of Captaintreacherous-Southwind Thundra collected her second victory from nine starts this season and now has earned $161,757 in purse money for her career. Her lifetime resume stands at 18-3-4-4.

Capytreach has been knocking on the door with three second place finishes in her last four miles.

Trained by Tony Dinges, Capytreach is owned by Erik Good, West Wins Stable and Mark Dumain. The filly’s dam is a full sister to dual Dan Patch Award winner and world champion Southwind Tempo ($2.45 million).

Capytreach is the first foal from Southwind Thundra and fetched $55,000 at the 2022 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

The filly paid a healthy $38.12 to her supporters.

Racing continues at The Red Mile on Sunday (Aug. 10) with a 5:05 p.m. post. 

(The Red Mile)