Leading Lady took the spotlight as she won her second straight Kentucky Championship Series event with a narrow triumph in the only $111,111 third-round contest for freshman trotting fillies in 1:54 on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at The Red Mile.
Anything can transpire in a harness race, but especially with a field of 11 rookie filly trotters. Favourite Leading Lady (Yannick Gingras) got a fortuitous draw with post two, and three of her rivals took themselves out of contention with early breaks.
Carve (Andrew McCarthy) left from post six and led her foes through splits of :28.4, :58.2 and 1:27 with Leading Lady in fifth through the half. The favourite advanced second-over to fourth by three-quarters and moved to challenge the leader with Jailbird Jog (Tim Tetrick) coming from eighth to engage with the top two as the fillies made their final charge to the line. After battling through the stretch, Leading Lady came out on top by a neck with a :26.3 final panel. Jailbird Jog was right behind her with a :26 drive to the line and Carve, after an admirable mile, finished a neck back of the winner in third.
Trained by Nancy Takter, Leading Lady improved to 4-3-0-0, with her only defeat being a sixth-place finish in the New Jersey Sire Stakes Final on Aug. 2. The daughter of Walner-Muscle Dolly has banked $127,474. Bred by Marvin and Lynn Katz and Al Libfeld, Leading Lady is the second foal out of her dam and was purchased for $148,649 at last year’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale by Black Horse Racing, Marvin Katz and Herb Liverman.
The historic facility also hosted three $41,667 third-round contests of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series, five $20,833 third-leg divisions of the Golden Rod Series, and three $13,889 third-round splits of the Kentucky Wildcat Series, all for two-year-old trotting fillies.
In the third Commonwealth division, Cher Hill achieved a new lifetime mark of 1:54.1 and returned to the win column with a 2-3/4-length triumph. She was sixth through the first-half fractions of :27.1 and :54, advanced outside through three-quarters in 1:24.4, and charged to victory over place finisher Creator (Dunn) and Kngtstlkrs Games (David Miller), who was third.
Trained by Gregg McNair, the daughter of Muscle Mass-Lauramarie Hill rebounded from a break in the previous round of this series after winning an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold leg earlier this month. Cher Hill competes as a homebred for Tom Hill and is 6-2-0-2 with $78,337 in earnings. She paid $9.20 to win.
Heavy favourite Lindy In My Dreams (Dexter Dunn) tallied her second consecutive win in Commonwealth Series company over this surface with a new lifetime mark of 1:56. Pub Party (Tetrick) was 1-3/4 lengths adrift second, and Night French Girl (Todd McCarthy) completed the ticket. Trained by Domenico Cecere, Lindy In My Dreams is a daughter of Ready For Moni-Lindy Of My Dreams and competes as a homebred for Lindy Farms of Connecticut. She paid $2.94 at the windows as she improved her record to 3-2-0-0.
Scott Zeron and Lainey W proved the wagering public correct with a new speed badge of 1:53.4 in her third consecutive win in the second Commonwealth division. Zaheera (Andrew McCarthy) was second by 1-1/4 lengths, and Alberta V (Gingras) finished third. Trained by Marcus Melander, Lainey W is a daughter of Bar Hopping-The Black Beauty with a record of 5-3-1-0. She is owned by Brittany Farms LLC and Marvin and Lynn Katz. Her backers received received $3.20.
The Golden Rod Series winners were Goya ($7.68) in 1:56.4 with Tetrick driving, Out The Window ($49.02) with Andrew McCarthy at the lines in 1:56, the Andy Miller-piloted Indeed Bi ($4.94) in 1:55.3, Iconic Beauty ($89.54), driven by Todd McCarthy, in 1:57, and Che Bella ($4.66) for Gingras in 1:56.
Burningforyourlove (Tetrick, $4.92), Julie Palema (Andy Miller, $3.02) and Jula Priceless (Gingras, $11.20) won the Wildcat contests.
Gingras had three stakes wins on the day.
(With files from The Red Mile)