Regally bred Command Center scored a 1:54.1 victory in the $111,111 second preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at The Red Mile, giving trainer Marcus Melander one of five stakes wins on the day.
Leaving from post two, driver Dexter Dunn eased Command Center to the middle of the pack while Captain Kenny J (Todd McCarthy) surged forward through a :29 first quarter to seize the lead from 169-1 shot Celebrini (Joe Bongiorno). Nights In Miami (Marvin Luna) soon angled off the cones from third to brush for the lead but greenly hesitated to clear approaching a :57.4 half and then broke stride, forcing incoming pursuer Top Reacher (Mattias Melander) three wide with Dunn following with Command Center. Command Center looped by Top Reacher to take the lead to three-quarters in 1:25.4 and maintained his advantage through the stretch as Captain Kenny J popped from a stalking trip to take second with Top Reacher trotting evenly for third.
Command Center, a colt by Gimpanzee out of world-champion mare Mission Brief, is owned by S R F Stable, Holly Lane Stud East Ltd. and Steve Stewart. His half-brother, Apex, won the Hambletonian on Saturday. The colt, who sold for $704,225 as a yearling at the 2025 Harrisburg sale, won his first race in his second start and has now earned $69,077. He paid $4.54 to win.
Trainer Marcus Melander won five of the 14 races contested on the day. Aside from his victory in the Kentucky Championship Series division, he sent Opposition (Dexter Dunn, 1:57.3; $3.92), a colt out of Hambletonian Oaks winner Danae, to victory in a Kentucky Wildcat Series division and later swept the remaining Wildcat splits with Gagosian (Dexter Dunn, 1:56.3; $2.46) and Huk Hanover (Mattias Melander, 1:58.2; $10.96). Melander also sent Kaws (Dexter Dunn, 1:56.1; $3.24) to victory in the fastest of the three $20,833 Kentucky Golden Rod divisions on the day.
Wednesday’s card also featured a pair of $41,667 divisions of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for two-year-old trotting males. Marino (Tim Tetrick, 1:54.2; $35.58), a Walner-Bene Bene gelding, braved a first-over trip to pull a nose upset over 8-5 favourite Kountry Win (Yannick Gingras) to take top honours of the two dashes. Point Blank (David Miller, 1:56.3; $6.62), a son of Gimpanzee-Odessa Celeber S, scored from a stalking trip to win the other division by three-quarter lengths.
The other Golden Rod winners were Nicky Sandals (Tim Tetrick, 1:56.3; $6.70) and Madeby Volo (Todd McCarthy, 1:56.2; $5.26).
Inclement weather again forced The Red Mile to cancel the last two races on the card due to unsafe track conditions. Live harness racing at The Red Mile resumes on Sunday, Aug. 16 with a 15-race card headlined by the $80,000 USD second preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series for two-year-old pacing fillies. First-race post time on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. (EDT).
(The Red Mile)