The promising Looksgoodinloulou and Kentucky champion Date Night Hanover captured their respective second round divisions of the $109,509 Kentucky Championship Series on Sunday, Aug. 11 at The Red Mile. 

In the division for two-year-old pacing fillies, undefeated Looksgoodinloulou with Yannick Gingras sprung from a pocket trip to score by 1-3/4 lengths over Duration (Todd McCarthy) and Champagne Room (Andrew McCarthy) in 1:50.2, a new mark in her second career start. 

Champagne Room led the field of six through splits of :27.1, :56.1 and 1:24.3 before Looksgoodinloulou seized the lead. Duration, who was sitting in third throughout the mile, went after the leader with a torrid :25.4 final panel. Looksgoodinloulou, however, out-paced that filly foe to the wire with :25.3 closing speed. Champagne Room held for third. 

Looksgoodinloulou, a daughter of Sweet Lou and Looksgoodinaromper, is trained by Ron Burke and is a homebred owned by Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi.

Looksgoodinloulou paid $2.22 to win as the heavy post time favourite. 

Rebounding from a break in the Hambletonian Oaks, Date Night Hanover (pictured above) made her return to the Bluegrass State a victorious one as she set a new lifetime mark of 1:51.2 with the hot-handed Dexter Dunn driving in the division for three-year-old filly trotters. 

While favoured Allegiant (Scott Zeron) controlled the front end of the field of nine through fractions of :28.2, :56.3 and 1:24.3, Date Night Hanover sat in fifth position. The daughter of Chapter Seven-Dont Wait Up was on the move at the three-quarters mark and unleashed a :26.1 closing kick to beat Allegiant home, winning by 1-1/4 lengths. Spy Coast (Gingras) followed in third.

Last year's Kentucky Championship Series divisional winner, Date Night Hanover improved her seasonal record to 2-0-4 from nine starts while her career bankroll surpassed the half-million-dollar mark for trainer Marcus Melander. Bred by Hanover Shoe Farms, Date Night Hanover was purchased by Jeffrey Snyder and Onda Farms for $600,000 at the 2022 Standardbred Horse Sale. The filly is a half sibling to the Southwind Frank stallion Delayed Hanover, a career winner of more than $700,000.

Date Night Hanover paid $4.58 to win as the public’s second choice. 

Driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Ake Svanstedt swept a pair of $41,096 divisions of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for the three-year-old trotting fillies with Pisco Sour and Star Attraction.

Pisco Sour collected her second straight win in the series, scoring by a neck over Butter N Syrup (Peter Wrenn) and Stubborn Chee (Dunn) in 1:53.2. Trained by Svanstedt, the daughter of Walner-Blessed is owned by Jorgen Sparredal Inc., and was bred Steve Stewart, Black Creek Farm and Harri Koskela. Pisco Sour was the post time favourite and paid $5.34 to win. 

Star Attraction rebounded from a miscue in the opening leg with a career-best 1:52.2 triumph by nearly five lengths. House Of Love (Julien Dubois) was second and Santa Croce (T. McCarthy) was third. The daughter of Chapter Seven-Selena G competes as a homebred for Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld. She paid $10.48 to win. 

The Commonwealth splits for two-year-old pacing fillies were won by Rose and Chakra.

Favoured Rose earned her second consecutive win in the series for Gingras and Burke as the daughter of Sweet Lou-Rosemary Rose took a new mark of 1:50.3. Miki And Minnie (A. McCarthy) was second and Unreasonable (Zeron) was third. Rose was bred by Burke Racing Stable, Jason Melillo and Weaver Bruscemi. She is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Jack Piatt III and Lawrence Karr.  The filly is the first foal out of a dam that amassed more than $620,000 in purse money. Rose paid $2.10 to win as the favourite. 

Chakra, driven by Anibal Borjas, defeated favoured Three Times Bettor (A. McCarthy) by a neck in 1:51.4 for a maiden-breaking victory in her third start after a neck miss in the opening leg. Hip Shot (Zeron) was third. The daughter of Lather Up-Holy Trinity is trained by Tony Alagna and owned by Alagna Racing and Pryde Stables. She was bred by Crawford Farms and was a $25,000 yearling purchase at the 2023 Standardbred Horse Sale under the name Vivie Magdalena. The filly paid $19.24 for the mild upset.

Among his six driving wins on the card, Dunn also won Golden Rod Series divisions with three-year-old filly trotter Belle Meade (1:53.1) for trainer Nancy Takter and the Chris Ryder-trained two-year-old filly pacers Bytheliteofthemoon (1:51.3) and Flossy Hill (1:52.1).

Other Golden Rod Series divisions, each worth $20,548, were won by three-year-old trotting fillies Green Mercedes (1:53) from the Julie Miller stable and the Lucas Wallin trainee Dolce Amara (1:52), and two-year-old pacing filly Long Hot Summer (1:53.1) for Alagna -- the latter two fillies are co-owned by Katz.

Racing continues on Monday, Aug. 12 at The Red Mile with a first post of 1 p.m. The 18-race card includes more Kentucky stakes action for two-year-old trotting fillies and three-year-old pacing colts.

(With files from The Red Mile)