The fortnight of Grand Circuit racing at the Red Mile will get underway this Thursday (Sept. 27), as four divisions of the $343,000 Bluegrass Two-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot are set to highlight the nine-race program.
Peter Haughton Memorial winner Dont Letem will be looking to rebound from a pair of last-place efforts when he starts from Post 4 in the $86,000 first division (Race 3). The Jimmy Takter-trained Muscle Hill colt has struggled with his gait in three of his four starts over the Lexington oval and more recently broke stride around the final turn in the $250,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes (KYSS) final. Dont Letem is owned by Brittany Farms, Christina Takter, John Fielding and Herb Liverman. He has won four of his eight starts and $238,117 in purse earnings. Dont Letem will be driven Jimmy Takter on Thursday.
Marcus Melander trainee Green Manalishi S, runner-up to Dont Letem in the Peter Haughton Memorial, enters the $85,000 second division off a 1:53.4 lifetime-best victory in the $308,000 William Wellwood Memorial at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Having finishing no worse than second in all six starts of his career, the Muscle Hill colt has banked over $300,000 in earnings so far for owner Courant Inc. and will start from Post 1 with Tim Tetrick driving.
Forecast will face his first Grand Circuit test in the $86,000 third division of Bluegrass following his one-length, 1:53.4 victory in the $250,000 KYSS final. Owned by William Wiswell, Jean Goehlen and Eugene Schick, the John Butenschoen-trained Muscle Hill colt has recorded five wins from nine starts this season and has banked $186,650 in purse earnings. Corey Callahan will sit behind from Post 3.
Union Forces, who pulled a 33-1 upset in an elimination for the William Wellwood Memorial, will compete against Forecast from Post 6 for trainer Domenico Cecere and driver Scott Zeron. The Cantab Hall colt galloped heading to the half in the Wellwood final and finished eighth — the first off-the-board finish of his career. Union Forces has won three of his five starts and has banked $40,957 in earnings for owners Lindy Farms of Connecticut, Robert Rudolph, David Anderson and John Fielding.
Cecere will also send Kings County, who will be driven by Scott Zeron, to Post 7 in the $86,000 final division off a fourth-place finish in the Wellwood Memorial. The Muscle Hill colt, owned by Lindy Farms of Connecticut, is set to face off against Cantab Fashion, a Cantab Hall colt trained by Jim Campbell for owner Fashion Farms LLC, and Prospect Hill, a Muscle Hill colt trained by Julie Miller for owner Stroy Inc.
Cantab Fashion, who will start from Post 3 with driver David Miller, enters riding a three-race win streak – he has won by a combined 22 lengths in his last three outings. His most recent win, a lifetime best, came in a division of the Kindergarten Classic at Tioga Downs timed in 1:54.2.
Prospect Hill, a winner of seven of his nine starts, has accrued over $180,000 in earnings and enters off victories in a $30,833 division of the Keystone Classic at the Meadows and a $48,218 division of the Standardbred Stakes at the Delaware County Fair. Andy Miller will steer the colt from Post 2.
The nine-race card, which will also feature a $3,000 division of the Billings Amateur Drivers Series and three late-closing events for two-year-old trotting fillies, will start at 7:00 p.m. (EDT).
(Red Mile)