On Sunday (Sept. 1) Go Dog Go and Miki And Minnie (pictured) downed the favorites in their respective divisions to collect triumphs in the $108,108 fourth legs of the Kentucky Championship Series for freshman male trotters and two-year-old pacing fillies.
Go Dog Go (Todd McCarthy) was content to sit in third eyeballing pocket-sitting favourite Chat Room (Yannick Gingras) for three-quarters of the mile while longshot General Kronos (Tim Tetrick) set the fractions of :28.4, :56.3 and 1:25.3.
As the field of seven strode into the stretch, Go Dog Go decided it was time to determine what was in the tank and did not disappoint. The son of Greenshoe-Primary Target trotted to the wire in :27 which was more than enough to outlast a hard-closing Blank (Dexter Dunn) and Chat Room who was third. He stopped the clock a lifetime best 1:53.
Trained by Carter Pinske, Go Dog Go is owned by Wiesman Farms and Al Libfel., Go Dog Go’s resume is 4-2-1-0 and he has banked $102,284.
Go Dog Go was bred by Wiesman Farms and was a $110,000 yearling purchase at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.
Go Do Go paid $5.34 to his supporters.
Miki And Minnie (Dunn) denied undefeated favorites Looksgoodinloulou (Gingras) and Ascendance (Scott Zeron) their bids for victory in the leg for freshman pacing fillies. Sweet Ballad (David Miller) was second and Champagne Room (Andrew McCarthy) was third.
The final time of 1:50.3 was a new mark for the daughter of Always B Miki-Thats The Ticket.
Leaving from post position eight in the field of 10, Miki And Minnie paced in third position for the first quarter mile with Duration establishing the first split in :27.1. The filly’s pilot decided it was time to go and she assumed command with a :56 half-mile before Duration came right back to take command at three-quarters in 1:23.4.
Surging home in :26.3, Miki And Minnie popped the pocket once more at the top of the lane and paced away by two lengths for the victory.
Trained by Chris Ryder, Miki And Minnie competes as a homebred for Craig Henderson, Robert Mondillo and Lawrence Minowitz.
Her career slate stands at 6-2-4-0 and she has earned $108,991 in purse money.
Miki And Minnie provided $17.18 for her second victory.
Three Times Bettor, Yannick G Kemp Collect Commonwealth Series Triumphs
Three Times Bettor (Andrew McCarthy) took the $40,541 fourth leg of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for two-year-old filly pacers in a lifetime best 1:51.4. Accede (Gingras) was second and Ronstadt (T. McCarthy) came home third.
Trained by Brett Pelling, the daughter of Bettor’s Delight-Three Times A Lady now possesses a record of 6-2-1-2.
She was bred by Steve Stewart, Conquest Acres Lp and Michael Robinson.
Three Times Bettor was sold for $155,000 to Thadeus Wier at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.
She paid $3.96 to win as the favourite.
Yannick G Kemp (Peter Wrenn) closed out the 17-race card with a 1:53.4 win in the $40,541 fourth leg of the Commonwealth Series for two-year-old male trotters. Memento Mori (Zeron) and Bank On Me (T. McCarthy) rounded out the trifecta.
Trained by Nifty Norman, the son of Walner-Southwind Adele hit the line with the swiftest time of his young career and collected his second consecutive victory.
Yannick G Kemp has a record of 6-3-1-0 and was bred by Kemppi Stables and Suojalampi Stable. He went through the ring at the 2023 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale for $180,000 to Melvin Hartman, Rojan Stables and Little E LLC.
The colt paid $6.94 to win as the public’s top selection.
The three $20,270 divisions of the Kentucky Goldenrod Series saw a pair of upsetters for the two-year-old trotting colts. Uno ($27.60, 1:56.2) teamed up with driver Anibal Borjas to win the first division, while Assiduous ($36.26, 1:54.3) and Tim Tetrick took the second divison. Blue Cartier ($3.86, 1:55.3) saw things return to form in the third and final division with driver Yannick Gingras.
The two-year-old pacing fillies were much more formful in their two $20,270 Goldenrod divisions. Bytheliteofthemoon ($2.12, 1:53) gave driver Dexter Dunn another win on the card while Tetrick moved withing one win of career victory 14,000 driving Faze ($3.66, 1:51) to the winner's circle in the second division.
Racing continues Monday, Sept. 2 at The Red Mile with a first post of 1 p.m.
(With files from The Red Mile)