After having her unbeaten record snapped last month and thrice a runner-up since, Papi Grad will head to The Red Mile as the 3-2 morning line choice in the second of four $77,500 USD divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes for two-year-old pacing fillies on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 26.
Papi Grad has landed post six in the second division, a seven-filly contest, which includes Kentucky Championship Series runner-up Looksgoodinloulou from post seven and Kentucky Golden Rod champion Faze from post five. Dexter Dunn has acquired the drive on Papi Grad, a daughter of Papi Rob Hanover, for trainer Steve Carter. She began her career undefeated in five starts before being handed back-to-back losses by Rose and more recently getting caught at the end of a 1:51.4 mile in the Standardbred Stakes at Delaware Fair by Odds On Hialeah.
Division one of the Bluegrass two-year-old filly pace, which opens the Thursday card, will show whether Rodeo Drive Deo can build off a fast-closing, second-place finish in the New Jersey Classic final on Sept. 6. David Miller drives the Ron Burke-trained filly by Captaintreacherous who ripped off cover with a :25.4 final quarter to miss the win by 1-1/4 lengths. She starts as the 8-5 morning line favourite in a seven-horse field.
Miki And Minnie, winner of the Kentucky Championship Series final for two-year-old pacing fillies, fronts the third division for this set off her tight 1:49.4 win two weeks ago. Dexter Dunn teams with trainer Chris Ryder on this Always B Miki filly, listed at 6-5 on the morning line, as she will compete from post four against a group that includes Sammy Jo Hanover, who powered to a 1:51.2 victory in the Kentuckiana Stakes at Harrah’s Hoosier Park one week ago. Tim Tetrick will steer that rival, a daughter of Captaintreacherous, out of post three for conditioner Scott Di Domenico.
The final division of the two-year-old filly pacers features Red Mile royalty in Chris Ryder pupil Flossy Hill – a daughter of 2020 Tattersalls champion Tall Dark Stranger out of Party Girl Hill, who beat the boys that same year in the other division of the Tattersalls to maintain her unbeaten record. Andy McCarthy picks up the drive on the Tom Hill homebred, listed at 8-1 on the morning line, off a runner-up effort to Faze in the Kentucky Golden Rod final. Her competition includes morning line favourite and stout closer Unreasonable from post three with Scott Zeron driving for Erv Miller and “Nifty” Norman upstart Beyonsay Yankee with Tim Tetrick from post six – as she forays into Grand Circuit company – among four other foes in the seven-filly contest.
Thursday’s Red Mile card also includes five divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings. The $77,300 USD first division includes a precocious Lucas Wallin trainee in The Rogue Prince, a Walner colt out of champion mare Check Me Out. Tim Tetrick stays in the bike on the slight morning-line choice as the colt dives into his first stakes affair following a 1:56.4 romp by 10-3/4 lengths over the Lexington track two weeks ago. He encounters a group that includes Pennsylvania Stallion Series champ Hey Porter from post six, Kentucky Championship third-place finisher Chat Room from post seven and William Wellwood elimination winner Tactical Dynasty from post eight.
Kentucky Championship Series winner Super Chapter leads the second Bluegrass division for trotting colts and geldings. Dexter Dunn will pilot the Marcus Melander-trained colt, by Chapter Seven out of 2014 Hambletonian Oaks winner Lifetime Pursuit, from post seven off a 1:52.1 win – with a :26.2 final quarter – by 4-1/4 lengths in the Championship Series. He faces another Lucas Wallin pupil diving deep from post eight in Maximus Mearas S, who is unbeaten from two starts and a son of Chapter Seven from stakes-winning mare Darling Mearas S. Blue Cartier, who swept the Kentucky Golden Rod Series with a 1:55.4 win in the final, will also compete in this division from post two with David Miller in the bike for trainer Tony Alagna.
Netherlands-bred Portobarosso As NL will start as the 6-5 morning-line choice in the third trotting colt split. The Julie Miller-trained Bar Hopping colt will leave from post five with Andy Miller in the bike off a fourth-place effort in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes final on Sept. 5 at The Meadows. He flanks Jim Campbell pupil Mr Walner Fashion, who is out of speedy Red Mile winner Cooler Schooner and is still trying to break his maiden, inside the eight-horse affair.
Carter Pinske trainee Go Dog Go, runner-up in the Kentucky Championship final, leads the fourth Bluegrass division for two-year-old trotting colts. Todd McCarthy will steer the 3-2 morning line favourite from the pylon post as the colt will try to add a third victory onto his card; each of his wins came over The Red Mile, one on debut in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series and the other in the Kentucky Championship Series. The eight-horse field also lures the Julie Miller-trained Walner colt Flightline, who will start from post six off a 1:54.4 win in the New Jersey Classic Consolation, and Monserrate, an Andrew Harris trainee who will start from post eight off a second-place 1:54.3 effort in the Madison County at Hoosier a week ago.
The closing Bluegrass division places Ron Burke trainee and 9-5 morning line favourite Hidalgo from the outermost post in the octet. The son of Muscle Hill ships south off a second-place finish to Mohawk Million winner Maryland in the Peter Haughton Memorial back on Sept. 13 at Hoosier. Yannick Gingras stays in the bike as the $600,000 Standardbred Horse Sale yearling purchase looks for his first visit to the winner’s circle since taking a New Jersey Classic elimination in 1:54.3 on Aug. 30.
Divisions one and two of the Bluegrass for two-year-old pacing fillies go as “The Beach Glass” and are sponsored by the Beach Glass Syndicate and Winbak Farm. The other two divisions race as “The Perfect Sting” and are sponsored by Brittany Farms.
The first two Bluegrass divisions for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings go as “The Captain Corey” and are sponsored by the Captain Corey Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms. Division three races as “The Father Patrick” sponsored by Al Libfeld Equine, division four goes as “The Muscle Mass” sponsored by Kentuckiana Farms and the final division is named “The What The Hill” sponsored by Harness Racing Update.
Thursday’s card, a 12-race program, opens the 2024 Grand Circuit meet at The Red Mile. The Grand Circuit meet has six total race days all leading to a stakes-packed closing day on Sunday, Oct. 6 and the headlining $475,000 USD (est.) Kentucky Futurity.
First-race post time at The Red Mile is 1 p.m. (EDT).
(With files from The Red Mile)