Lexington, KY – Nezuko Kamado S, who comfortably cut the mile and held firmly to win the Grade 1 Hambletonian Oaks earlier in the month, makes her return to the races on Sunday (Aug. 30) at the Red Mile as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series third preliminary leg for 3-year-old trotting fillies.
A homebred filly for Anders Ström’s Courant Inc. by Chapter Seven-Zefira Kronos IT, Nezuko Kamado S landed post 5 in the Sunday feature, carded as Race 11, and will reunite with driver Scott Zeron, who missed the drive in the Hambletonian Oaks after being briefly sidelined from an incident at Yonkers Raceway on Aug. 6. The fresh millionaire faces 10 rivals including two out of the same barn in Ygritte (Mattias Melander, post 4, 9-2 morning line), who has finished runner-up in both preliminaries of this series, and Setyoursightshigh (Dexter Dunn, post 9, 9-2), who finished third in the Hambletonian Oaks and enters from a tiring eighth in the Grade 1 Delmonica Hanover on Aug. 22 at Pocono Downs. The loaded field also includes Madam Cheval (Tim Tetrick, post 2, 6-1), who ripped with a :26.2 final quarter to win the second preliminary of this series at long odds, as well as Hambletonian Oaks runner-up Carve (Andy McCarthy, post 7, 7-2), who will look to rebound from a third-place finish in the second leg of this series.
This race week at the Red Mile will kick off a bit earlier with the $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series third preliminary for 3-year-old pacing males going postward before the pari-mutuel card Sunday as a non-betting race, which will be a showdown between opening preliminary winner Funky Buddha (Tim Tetrick, post 1), second-leg winner Sea Bistro Hanover (Todd McCarthy, post 3) and second-leg runner-up Ubrute (Yannick Gingras, post 2).
A pair of $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series divisions headline the Monday (Aug. 31) card. Miss Jum Jabber (Andy McCarthy, post 1, 6-5) looks to return to the winner’s circle in the third preliminary for 3-year-old pacing fillies after a win in the opening leg. She’ll face second-leg winner Bahama Momma (Joe Bongiorno, post 5, 2-1) in the quintet competing in race 6 on the day.
The sophomore trotting males spar later in race 9 with American Power (Dexter Dunn, post 9, 2-1) earning morning-line favoritism off a fourth-place finish behind his stablemate Apex in the Grade 1 Hambletonian. He starts just outside of Captain Naughty (Yannick Gingras, post 8, 9-2), who went pillar to post against four rivals in the second leg of this series, and two slots wider of opening-preliminary winner Requiem (Andy McCarthy, post 7, 9-2), who returns to Lexington from a fifth-place finish in the $200,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial Consolation at Pocono Downs on Aug. 22.
Freshman pacing colts and geldings take center stage on the Tuesday (Sept. 1) card with a 12-horse field competing in the $80,000 fourth leg of their Kentucky Championship Series. Second-leg winner Rumble And Sway (Tim Tetrick, post 12, 5-2) gets the nod on the morning line off a snug rally from a second-over trip to win the third leg of this series. Tetrick previously drove Gobstopper (Dexter Dunn, post 7, 6-1), who won in the first preliminary and pushed first-up to finish runner-up behind Rumble And Sway in the third leg. The overflow field also features a pair graduating from the Kentucky Commonwealth Series in Night Agent (Andy McCarthy, post 2, 9-2) and Just Perfect Stuff (Joey Putnam, post 3, 9-2), who enter from a dead-heat victory with one another in a 1:50.2 mile over this track on Aug. 23.
Male trotting freshmen will wrap the race week on Wednesday (Sept. 2) with the $80,000 fourth preliminary of their Kentucky Championship Series. Presidente (Scott Zeron, post 5, 2-1) will look to hold momentum as this race’s morning-line favorite off an open-length win in the third preliminary last week. His competition in the eight-horse field includes Command Center (Dexter Dunn, post 3, 7-2), a half-brother to Hambletonian winner Apex who won in this series’ second leg and finished runner-up in the third preliminary.
Each day of racing also features $30,000 divisions of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series, $15,000 divisions of the Kentucky Golden Rod Series and $10,000 divisions of the Kentucky Wildcat Series. First-race post time on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. (EDT) and 1 p.m. for the rest of the race week.