Captain Arturovico and Unreasonable both landed as odds-on favourites in their respective $48,611 third preliminary divisions of Kentucky Sire Stakes at The Red Mile on Monday afternoon, Sept. 14.
Ron Burke trainee Captain Arturovico, driven by Dexter Dunn, launched off a pocket ride and romped to a 1:48.4 score in the Kentucky Sire Stakes division for four-year-old pacing males.
Dunn settled from the pylon spot into a seat behind Damn The Torpedoes (Tim Tetrick) approaching a :27.1 first quarter and stayed put through a :54.2 half. He then angled from the pocket rounding past three-quarters in 1:22.4 and zipped away from the competition to cross the beam a 6-1/4-length winner chased by Somelousomewhere (Todd McCarthy) in second. Damn The Torpedoes settled for third.
A four-year-old gelding by Captaintreacherous-Tilikum, Captain Arturovico won his eighth race from 18 starts this season and his 20th race from 48 starts in his career, and has now banked $840,368. He competes for owners Burke Racing Stable of Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, Weaver Bruscemi of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Larry Karr of Boca Raton, Florida and Phil Collura of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. Sent off as the 2-5 favourite, he paid $2.40 to win.
Unreasonable and Todd McCarthy capitalized from a major scratch in Three Times Bettor and went down the road in the Kentucky Sire Stakes division for four-year-old pacing mares in a 1:49 mile.
Unreasonable cut a clip of :28, :55.2 and 1:23.1 before fending off a bid from pocket-sitter Champagne Room (Tim Tetrick) in the stretch to win by 1-1/4 lengths. Odds On Chesapeake (Scott Zeron) followed in third.
Andrew Harris trains Unreasonable, a four-year-old mare by Huntsville out of Roaring To Go, for owner Punisher 11 Stable of Freehold, New Jersey. The mare won her fifth race from 14 starts this season and her 16th race from 40 starts in her career, with earnings now at $1,412,328. She paid $3.32 to win.
Trainer Carter Pinske registered a hat trick on Monday's 13-race card. His first win was in an $11,528 overnight pace when Beach Formal (Todd McCarthy, 1:53 winning mile; $12.38 to win) converted a pocket trip to victory, and Pinske immediately returned to the winner’s circle in the following race when taking the first Kentucky Wildcat Series division of the day for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings with Father Tom (Dexter Dunn, 1:55.2; $30.42). Pinske wrapped the hat trick by taking the opening dash of the Wildcat Series for freshman pacing males with Homeland (Scott Zeron, 1:53.2; $10.86).
The additional $18,889 Wildcat splits for rookie trotting colts went to A Man Without Love (Tim Tetrick, 1:54.4; $5.80) for trainer Rene Sejthen and Obiter Dictum (Dexter Dunn, 1:55.3; $3.78) for trainer Marcus Melander.
The other Wildcat division for two-year-old pacing colts went to Hannibal (Todd McCarthy, 1:54.3; $4.90) for trainer Brett Pelling.
Live harness racing action at The Red Mile resumes on Tuesday, Sept. 15 with a 13-race card headlined by the $35,000 USD Kentucky Sire Stakes third preliminary for four-year-old trotting males. A $35,000 USD Kentucky Sire Stakes division for four-year-old trotting mares will also be contested on Tuesday prior to the pari-mutuel card. First-race post time is 1 p.m.
(With files from The Red Mile; photo of Captain Arturovico winning on Sept. 14)