Andy and Julie Miller’s star freshman trotting filly Wall Of Fame aims to up her record from nine wins in nine starts when she competes as the even-money morning line chalk in the second of four divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes for her cohort on Friday afternoon, Oct. 2 at The Red Mile.

Wall Of Fame, with more than $780,000 banked from victories including in New Jersey stakes finals and more recently her 1:52 lifetime-best performance in the Kentucky Championship Series final on Sept. 20, will race from post five with Andy Miller at the lines of the Julie Miller trainee in the seven-horse field that competes for $94,000 USD in race six on the afternoon. Her competition includes Nancy Takter trainee City Of Light (driver Tim Tetrick, post four, 7-2 morning line odds), who ships in from a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stakes at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, along with million-dollar yearling purchase Dejeuner (Andy McCarthy, post three, 8-1) as she looks for a maiden-breaking win off a runner-up effort in a Kentucky Wildcat division on Sept. 15.

The freshman trotting fillies open the Friday program with their first $94,000 USD Bluegrass dash that has both morning-line favourites looking to rebound. Heart Of Secret (Yannick Gingras, post five, 6-5) earned favouritism from a Kentucky Sire Stakes campaign in which she has not missed the board once from seven starts, though she enters from a second-placed-third performance in the Kentucky Championship Series final when making a lapped-on break to the finish of her battle with Wall Of Fame. John Butenschoen trainee Pattys Girl (Tim Tetrick, post one, 5-2) is listed as the second favourite following a campaign in Pennsylvania Sire Stakes that concluded with a fourth-place effort in the final on Sept. 7 at Pocono Downs, and she followed that effort with a seventh in a Keystone Classic division at The Meadows after breaking stride at the start. Sabia (Scott Zeron, post two, 6-1), the runner-up finisher in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series final on Sept. 21, also competes.

Ohio champion and Melander pupil Blue Ranger (Orjan Kihlstrom, post 1, 2-1) leads the third $94,000 USD Bluegrass dash for the division as she looks to return to the winner’s circle following a third-place finish in the Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stakes. She draws inside of stablemate Fleur Delacour (Dexter Dunn, post two, 7-2), who inherited second behind Wall Of Fame from a pocket trip through disqualification in the Kentucky Championship Series final, and also competes against another stablemate in A Tale Of Kemp (Todd McCarthy, post four, 8-1), who enters from a seventh-place effort when tiring in the Kentucky Commonwealth final. Hanna Hill (Andy McCarthy, post five, 6-1), winner of the Commonwealth final, also draws into the field as well as Nancy Takter pupil Rio De Janeiro (Joe Bongiorno, post three, 9-2), who will make her first start since finishing runner-up to Wall Of Fame in the New Jersey Classic on Sept. 11.

Marcus Melander sends another vicious pair in the closing $95,000 USD Bluegrass dash for freshman trotting fillies with Birr Castle (Scott Zeron, post five, 6-5), winner of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final and the Grade 1 Jim Doherty Memorial at Harrah’s Hoosier Park, and Two Day Hangover (Dexter Dunn, post eight, 2-1), who finished second in the Doherty. Melander also sends out Kentucky Golden Rod Series champ Mine Mine Mine (Mattias Melander, post two, 10-1) in the competitive field that also lures Ake Svanstedt trainee Orinoco (Yannick Gingras, post four, 3-1), who eyes vindication from a runner-up finish in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final behind Birr Castle.

Friday’s card also features three $89,300 USD divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes for two-year-old pacing males beginning in race three with Kentucky Championship Series winner Gobstopper (Dexter Dunn, post eight, 2-1) making his return to the track. The Tony Dinges trainee bested his peers with a 1:50.2 effort and will match up again in this race with Rumble And Sway (Tim Tetrick, post one, 3-1), who finished third in that final, and Hold Fast (Atlee Bender, post three, 6-1), who rallied from last for fifth. The field also includes Lounado (Austin Hanners, post seven, 9-2), a full-brother to Dan Patch Award winner My Girl EJ, as he enters from a win in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes consolation and a third-place effort in the Keystone Classic at The Meadows on Sept. 17.

The second division, going to gate in race four, gathers a field of eight with Dinges pupil Blazin Lou (Todd McCarthy, post one, 2-1) stamped as the morning-line favourite following a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Championship Series final. The field also draws several from champion dams including Blue Eyed Stranger (Yannick Gingras, post five, 3-1), a Tall Dark Stranger homebred colt out of millionaire mare Blue Diamond Eyes, Night Agent (Andy McCarthy, post seven, 6-1), a Captaintreacherous colt out of world champion and Red Mile track record holder Shebestingin, and Hades (Dexter Dunn, post eight, 12-1), a Sweet Lou colt out of millionaire mare Darlinonthebeach.

Trainer Ron Burke sends out the morning-line chalks in the last Bluegrass division for freshman pacing males, carded as race seven, with Ocean Party (Tim Tetrick, post six, 2-1) and Stonebridge Blitz (Yannick Gingras, post one, 3-1). Ocean Party still seeks to break his maiden, though he put together his best effort to date back on Sept. 12 when finishing runner-up at 58-1 in a 1:49.4 mile in the Ohio Sires Stakes final. His stablemate, Stonebridge Blitz, is also winless coming into the Bluegrass, though he finished runner-up in his most recent start with a 1:51.2 effort in the Grade 3 Elevation Stakes at Hoosier Park on Sept. 25. This division also includes Dog Dare You (Dexter Dunn, post five, 9-2), an upset winner in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series, and Reflector (Todd McCarthy, post eight, 8-1), a Bulldog Hanover colt out of Breeders Crown winner Reflect With Me that enters from a runner-up effort in the Kentucky Golden Rod Series.

The 13-race card on Friday gets underway at 1 p.m. and includes a 50-cent Pick 5 beginning in race three as well as a pair of Pick-4 wagers with one starting in race six and the other in race 10. The Pick 5 and the Pick 4 are offered at an industry low takeout of just 12 per cent. 

Live harness racing during the Grand Circuit meeting will take place on a Thursday through Saturday rotation with the highlight day of the meet being on Saturday, Oct. 3 for the 134th edition of the Kentucky Futurity, the final jewel of the Trotting Triple Crown.

(The Red Mile)