The annual fortnight of world-class harness racing at The Red Mile commences this Thursday, Sept. 25 with the opening day of the Grand Circuit meeting featuring seven divisions of freshmen slated to compete in Bluegrass Stakes action on the 13-race card.
Stakes competition gets underway in the second half of the early daily double with the first of four $82,000+ USD divisions of the Bluegrass Series for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings, the opening division of which is sponsored by the Sig Sauer Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms. Noel Daley, the 2024 Dan Patch Trainer of the Year, sends out 2-1 morning line chalk Minoan as the Bar Hopping colt, out of the SJs Caviar mare Regal Woman, looks to add to his six-figure account off a fourth-place finish in a Kindergarten preliminary at The Meadowlands. Todd McCarthy will drive the colt from post two, just outside of Nancy Takter’s Greenshoe-Sherrys Lady pupil Onassis as he returns to Lexington off a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series final on Sept. 15. Yannick Gingras has the driving assignment on Onassis.
The first of three $82,000+ USD Bluegrass divisions for two-year-old filly pacers follows in the afternoon’s third race, which is sponsored by Brittany Farms. Big Weekend dips from a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Championship Series final into potentially lighter waters as the 2-1 favourite for trainer Travis Alexander. Tim Tetrick will drive the Captaintreacherous-Tica Hanover filly from post three, next door to trainer/driver Joe Bongiorno’s precocious Papi Rob Hanover-Ameraway prospect Amira Hanover. Erv Miller also sends out his Tall Dark Stranger filly Kissin In The Dark, out of the stakes-winning mare Yagonnakissmeornot, from post six in rein to David Miller following a third-place rally at odds of 101-1 in the Kentucky Commonwealth final.
Bargain yearling Topville Lucky looks to add to her nearly unblemished record in the second Bluegrass division for pacing fillies, carded as race six and sponsored by the Beach Glass Syndicate and Winbak Farm. The $37,500 yearling purchase for the tandem of Bill Pollock, Bruce Areman and trainer Andrew Harris has found the winner’s circle in all but one of her five starts, with her lone loss coming as a result of a break in stride. Dexter Dunn retains the drive after guiding the Sweet Lou-Warrawee Winx filly to a 1:50.4 score in the Kentucky Championship Series final. She will start from post one as the 3-5 morning line favourite in an eight-horse field that also features Beautiful Memory, a Perfect Sting filly out of the 2019 Breeders Crown Two-Year-Old Filly Pace champion Reflect With Me. Scott Zeron will drive that rival for trainer Tony Alagna out of post four.
Colts and geldings return to the track in the next race for the second division of the Bluegrass freshman male trot, where trainer Ake Svanstedt sends out an eye-catching pair in the race sponsored by Al Libfeld Equine. Svanstedt will pilot Mr Penner, a gelding by his former pupil and 2021 Hambletonian champion Captain Corey out of the Muscle Hill mare Wet My Whistle, from post five as the 3-1 second choice on the morning line. He will leave just outside of Nordic Dancer S, a full pacing-blooded brother to this year’s Hambletonian winner Nordic Catcher S. Dexter Dunn will drive the Six Pack colt out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare That Woman Hanover as he looks for just the second win of his career. Meanwhile, morning line favourite Mr Big Spender, a colt by Captain Corey out of Reilly K, will have to overcome post eight in the eight-horse field for trainer Norm Parker and driver Mike Wilder after the colt finished third in the Peter Haughton Memorial to this season’s Mohawk Million winner Apex.
Pacing fillies will wrap up their stakes action for the afternoon in race nine, which is also sponsored by the Beach Glass Syndicate and Winbak Farm. Ron Burke trainee Barbuda Belle, by Captaintreacherous out of the stakes-winning mare Uffizi Hanover, will start from post eight as the 5-2 morning line choice after she crushed with a 1:50 lifetime-best effort to win the Kentucky Commonwealth final at odds of 15-1. Yannick Gingras stays in the bike on the hardened filly making her ninth start of the campaign. Hope Hill, runner-up in that Kentucky Commonwealth final, will also compete in this division two slots inside for trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. and driver Dexter Dunn. The Papi Rob Hanover-Ruth Hill filly, who has yet to miss the board from six starts, will look to add to her resume.
Kentuckiana Farms sponsors the penultimate division of the Bluegrass male trot, which drew Kentucky Championship Series runner-up It Could Be Worse for trainer Linda Toscano. The Captain Corey-Emiliciousboomboom colt gave chase for a second-place finish in the final to Endurance, who shipped to Canada following that win and nearly snagged victory against Apex in the Mohawk Million. Scott Zeron will drive It Could Be Worse as the 9-5 morning line chalk from post two.
Zephyr Kemp fronts the closing division of Bluegrass action, which is sponsored by the Volume Eight Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms, on the Thursday card as the 2-1 chalk out of post three for trainer Marcus Melander. The Calgary Games-Southwind Adele colt will look for amends off a fourth-place effort as the even-money choice in the Kentucky Commonwealth final two weeks ago. Dexter Dunn stays in the bike in the seven-horse field that also attracted Commonwealth third-place finisher Requiem, who lands post five for trainer Matthew Burkholder and driver David Miller, as well as Impossible Bi from the pylon post off a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Championship final for trainer Erv Miller. Scott Zeron picks up the drive on Impossible Bi.
The 13-race card to open the Grand Circuit meet at The Red Mile begins at 1 p.m.
The Thursday card also features a $7,500 USD guarantee on the Early Pick 4, which covers races three through nine. Every Pick 4 and the 50-cent Pick 5, which begins in race three, at The Red Mile features a low takeout of 12 per cent.
(With files from The Red Mile)