Hambletonian champion Karl extended his win streak on Sunday, Sept. 8 at The Red Mile and remains undefeated in the Kentucky Sire Stakes program.
A Kentucky champion during his Dan Patch Award-winning freshman season, Karl has competed in and won three legs of the Kentucky Championship Series this year following his sweep of the Hambletonian with his lastest victory on Sunday coming in a three-horse, non-wagering contest.
Competing in the $80,000 fourth leg of the series, Karl and driver Yannick Gingras crossed in front of two rivals and rated fractions of :28, :56.1 and 1:24.2 before the sprint to the finish. Kicking home in :26.2, the three-year-old Tactical Landing colt held off the pocket-popping Secret Agent Man (Andy Miller) by a neck in 1:50.4, with Dame Good Time (Scott Zeron) chasing two lengths back.
Karl improved his current win streak to five in a row and is now 18-for-20 lifetime with just one loss in each of his two and three-year-old seasons. The double millionaire is owned by trainer Nancy Takter along with Christina Takter, Black Horse Racing, breeder Crawford Farms and Bender Sweden Inc.
The fourth leg of the Kentucky Championship Series for three-year-old pacing fillies was also contested as a non-betting race with the pocket-popping Direction sprinting a :26 final quarter in rein to Todd McCarthy to catch Fearless Bettor (Dexter Dunn) after three consecutive :28.1 panels. Diamond Creek's homebred filly by Always B Miki was a 1:50.4 winner by half a length. Neridas Wish (Andy McCarthy) completed the field 1-3/4 lengths behind.
Trained by Brett Pelling, Direction had four wins in the Golden Rod Series as a rookie and has stepped up in competition to win twice at the Championship level this year with two close second-place finishes in the other preliminary legs. She has won 10 of her 15 races lifetime while banking $275,800.
Diamond Creek's three-year-old pacing filly Davenport prevailed by half a length in 1:51 in her $30,000 non-wagering division of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series. Also trained by Pelling and driven by Andy McCarthy, the Captain Crunch miss earned her second Commonwealth Series win as she bested Capytreach (Miller), with Real Deal Lindy (Gingras) and Defining Moment (Zeron) completing the order of the finish.
Three-year-old trotting colt For July earned his third Commonwealth Series win, with a :26.4 late rally to put away his rivals in a 1:53.1 mile for driver Mattias Melander. Bright Star (Zeron) edged out Skydiver (Gingras) for second. Lucas Wallin trains the Greenshoe colt for Harbor Racing Stable, D Farm and Order By Stable.
Pelling also collected a Golden Rod Series win with Diamond Creek's sophomore pacing filly Disney, driven to her third straight series win in 1:52.3 by Todd McCarthy, while Takter and Gingras teamed again to score with sophomore male trotter Magic Hill in 1:54.3. The other $15,000 Golden Rod divisions were won by trotting colt Naked Cowboy (Andy McCarthy), repeating in 1:53.1 for the Dylan Davis stable, and pacing filly Gifted One (Dunn) in a career-best 1:51.1 for trainer Tony Alagna.
(Standardbred Canada)