The Red Mile Grand Circuit concludes week one with a 13-race matinee card on Sunday. The program features five divisions of the Bluegrass Stakes for sophomore trotters, three colt divisions and a pair for the fair sex.
A pair of eliminations for the Allerage Farms Open stakes, containing the stars of the mature set, highlight the program. When Racing Secretary Billy Perkins opened the box at 10:00 a.m. this morning, he found an overflow of declarations in both events, necessitating several byes being offered to get both fields down to ten starters.
On the pacing side, top seasonal earner and division leader Pet Rock was the first to have the option to accept a free pass into next Sunday's $175,000 final on the strength of his 2013 bankroll of $646,834. His connections, trainer Virgil Morgan, Jr. and owner Frank Bellino, accepted the offer and he will join the top nine finishers from this Sunday's elimination in the final.
Left to battle for the remaining berths are the titans of the division including no less than five from the Ron Burke stable headed up by the razor sharp Clear Vision. A Rocknroll Dance, Bolt The Duer, Sweet Lou and Golden Receiver (returning from a month long freshening) are chief among the contenders.
Thirteen were declared for the Allerage Open Trot and the bye process took more effort to implement, as several trainers chose to bypass the free roll and race in the elimination. The pot is sweetened by the chance to win the right to select their post position for next week's final with a victory in this race.
At the end of the process, Guccio, Southwind Pepino and Wishing Stone will go directly to the $170,000 final next Sunday. That left an awfully good field of horses to race for the remaining seven slots.
Leading seasonal earner Sevruga leaves from post four with Andy Miller set to drive for owner KDM Stables Corporation. Market Share is also racing and will start just outside Sevruga as he makes his bid for the win. Tim Tetrick has driven him in each of his eight seasonal starts and will again call the shots for trainer Linda Toscano and owners Richard Gutnick, TLP Stable and Bill Augustine.
The fun starts at 1:00 p.m. and the weather forecast remains positive with a warm early fall afternoon predicted. Be reminded that The Red Mile clubhouse will be open each racing day and you may reserve a table by calling (859) 233-0814. Parking is free and admission is a mere $2 for a great day of harness racing.
While racing is dark on Monday and Tuesday, the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale begins on Tuesday, October 1 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion.
(Red Mile)