Jim Campbell trainee Cloud Nine Fashion will look to extended her career unbeaten streak to seven this Friday (Oct. 5) at the Red Mile, as she is set to contest the last of five divisions of the $324,500 International Stallion Stakes (ISS) for two-year-old trotting fillies. Four divisions of the $245,000 ISS for two-year-old pacing fillies will also highlight the program.
Last week in her division of the Bluegrass Stakes, the Fashion Farms LLC-owned Cloud Nine Fashion recorded a one-length, 1:55.3 victory from Post 10. Cloud Nine Fashion, who is scheduled to start from Post 3, is set to face off against The Ice Dutchess, who will head into the ISS split red-hot and carrying a three-race win streak. The Muscle Hill filly, owned by Coyote Wynd Farms, also has wins in the $296,450 Peaceful Way Stakes and $357,450 Jim Doherty Memorial on her resume as well as nearly $400,000 in earnings.
Tim Tetrick has picked up the drive on Cloud Nine Fashion this week, as David Miller has sided with the Linda Toscano-trained Chapter Seven filly Hanna Dreamgirl. The Ice Dutchess will have her usual pilot, Yannick Gingras, in tow.
Opening the juvenile trots as well as the card, Princess Deo will start from Post 3 off of a 1:55.1 rail-trip victory in her division of the Bluegrass. Owned by trainer Noel Daley along with Deo Volente Farms LLC and John Fodera, the Trixton filly has recorded two wins from eight starts and $72,106 in earnings. Andrew McCarthy will drive.
Doherty Memorial elimination winners Special Honor and Starita will meet in the second ISS division. Trained by Julie Miller for owners Brittany Farms LLC, Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld, Special Honor enters after an off-the-pace second-place effort as the favourite in her division of the Bluegrass. Special Honor, who has been a winner in two of her seven starts, will be driven by Andy Miller. The Father Patrick filly will start from Post 3.
Trained by Joe Holloway, Starita has three wins from 10 starts and $129,223 in earnings for owners Val D’Or Farms and Ted Gewertz. The filly by Trixton finished second to The Ice Dutchess in her division of the Bluegrass, timed in 1:54.4, and will start from Post 5 this week with David Miller in the bike.
Having won her Bluegrass split in 1:54.4 as the even-money favourite, the Richard ‘Nifty’ Norman-trained Evident Beauty will return to the Red Mile in the third ISS division. Racing for Melvin Hartman, Little E LLC and R A W Equine Inc., the Trixton filly has recorded two wins from six starts and has banked $146,332. She will start from Post 5 with David Miller at the reins.
Kentucky Sire Stakes champ Whispering Oaks will contest the fourth ISS split off of a fourth-place finish to Cloud Nine Fashion in the Bluegrass. The Jimmy Takter-trained Father Patrick filly has accrued $232,094 in earnings for owners Brixton Medical Inc., Herb Liverman and R A W Equine Inc. in just 10 starts this season, three of which she won. Yannick Gingras will sit in the bike from Post 5.
Four divisions of the $245,000 ISS for two-year-old pacing fillies will also highlight the program. Joe Holloway’s Heston Blue Chip filly Zero Tolerance, a winner of seven of her nine starts this season, will compete in the second division.
Zero Tolerance will start from Post 6 in the second division of the filly pace. She has earned $241,291 for owners Val D’Or Farms and Ted Gewertz. She charged through the stretch with a :26.2 final quarter to win her Bluegrass division by less than a length in 1:51, a lifetime best. Regular driver David Miller will bet at the controls.
Having defeated Zero Tolerance in the $207,000 Kentuckiana Filly Pace at Hoosier Park, Warrawee Ubeaut will return to compete against the Holloway trainee. Trained by Ron Burke, the Sweet Lou filly has recorded five wins from eight starts and banked $269,768 in earnings for owner Burke Racing Stable, Phillip Collura, Jerry and Theresa Silva Stables, Purnel & Libby and Weaver Bruscemi. Yannick Gingras will drive from Post 2.
Trainer Brett Bittle will try his filly Darn Tootn Hanover against Grand Circuit competition this week, as the Sweet Lou filly will jump from late-closing action at the Red Mile into the first ISS division. Having added lasix in her last start, Darn Tootn Hanover broke her maiden in a late-closing split with a three-quarter-length 1:55 victory. Corey Callahan will sit in the bike from Post 5 for owners Charles Keller III, Charles Keller IV, (E. Bittle) and Brett Bittle.
Prescient Beauty and St Somewhere, who finished ‘one-two’ in their Bluegrass split, will compete against each other once more in the third split of ISS. A homebred for James Avritt Sr., Prescient Beauty kicked off cover to catch speedster St Somewhere by a length in 1:51.1 as the odds-on favourite. The Gregg McNair trainee, who has recorded four wins from nine starts, has earned $178,537 and will have Doug McNair driving from Post 1.
St Somewhere, a Ron Burke-trained filly by American Ideal, rushed to the lead from Post 9 and quickened the tempo before being outsprinted in the stretch to finish second in her rebound mile. She lost her previous start, the $225,000 New York Sire Stakes final, as the even-money favourite after having made a break before three quarters. A winner of three races from 10 starts, St Somewhere has earned $138,143 for owners Burke Racing Stable & Philip Collura, Jerry and Theresa Silva Stables, Purnel & Libby and Weaver Bruscemi. Yannick Gingras will drive from Post 3.
Shes A Great Lady winner Tall Drink Hanover will enter the final division of the filly pace off of her 1:51.1 victory in the $454,300 Grand Circuit event at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The Tony Alagna-trained filly by Captaintreacherous has not missed the board in eight starts. She’s recorded five wins and banked $313,289 in purses for owners Alagna Racing LLC, Marvin Katz and Riverview Racing LLC. Andrew McCarthy will sit in the bike and will start from Post 7.
The Friday ISS action will feature a variety of sponsored events. There will be three divisions of the Walner filly trot (sponsored by the Walner Syndicate) and two of the Muscle Hill (sponsored by Southwind Farms). Blue Chip Stallions is the sponsor of all four divisions of the filly pace, and has named a division for American Ideal, Roll With Joe, Shadow Play and Bettors Delight.
Friday’s 12-race matinee will get underway with a 1:00 p.m. first-race post time (EDT).
(With files from the Red Mile)