The fortnight of Grand Circuit racing at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky gets underway with the Bluegrass Stakes for two-year-old filly trotters on Thursday, September 26. This group has had a remarkable season to this point with a bounty of talented debutantes re-writing the record books throughout the summer.
Three divisions of freshman fillies will race over the clay with the first split carded as Race 5 for a purse of $95,200. Several of the entrants have been in town for the Kindergarten Classic legs, including Anonyme Hanover who was a winner her last two in that series. The Explosive Matter lass has displayed an affinity for the surface, but will have to move her game up appreciably to extend that skein given the calibre of Thursday's competition. Brett Miller will continue to drive.
Race 8 is the next split. Nine fillies will duel for $96,200. Cee Bee Yes is perhaps the most accomplished of this group with a win in the New Jersey Sires Stakes final heading her resume. The Muscles Yankee filly has won three of seven this season on her way to banking over $140,000 for Jason & Douglas Allen. Her personal best of 1:55.1 was taken over the Red Mile two weeks back. Julie and Andy Miller handle the training and driving duties.
The tenth and final race of the evening is clearly the most contentious, pitting the PA Sires champ Designed To Be against the brilliantly fast Cooler Schooner and Merrie Annabelle winner Shake It Cerry for $96,200.
Designed To Be has won half of her six career outings including a comfortable five-length romp in the $260,000 PA final in 1:54.3. The Donato Hanover filly is a winner of nearly $240,000 for Al Libfeld and Marvin Katz. She also resides in the Julie Miller barn and will have Andy aboard.
Cooler Schooner shocked the harness world with her transcendent 1:51.3 world record tour of Pocono Downs last month. The Broadway Hall filly is wickedly fast and just might put up some dazzling numbers over the clay course. John Campbell is her regular driver for trainer Jim Campbell and owner Fashion Farms.
Shake It Cerry has crowded a lifetime of accomplishment into her short five-race career thus far. The Donato Hanover filly is a homebred, raised and raced by the Solveig Partners and she got off to an astounding start at the Meadowlands Racetrack this summer. She looked ferocious in her morning trials for trainer Jimmy Takter and waltzed to a pair of Pennsylvania wins before capturing the Merrie Annabelle in a track and stakes record 1:53.3. In her next start she followed Cooler Schooner under the wire, trotting her mile in 1:51.4 which would have sealed her reputation as one of the best freshman fillies of all time, if there wasn't another filly a length ahead of her. Most recently, Shake It Cerry went off stride while looking every bit a winner in the Peaceful Way eliminations at Mohawk Racetrack. She will be looking to rebound with her regular driver, Ron Pierce, listed for Thursday's race.
The Red Mile will race nights Thursday through Saturday with first post at 7:00 p.m. Visit the track website for further information on the Grand Circuit race meet, which continues through Kentucky Futurity Day, October 6.
(Red Mile)