Lexington, KY — The stars of harness racing will flock to the Red Mile on Sunday night (Sept. 20) for a $3.2-million Night of Champions, featuring the eight $400,000 finals of the Kentucky Championship Series for 2- and 3-year-olds.
Undefeated Wall Of Fame will put her record on the line when she starts from post 1 as the 4-5 favorite in the final for 2-year-old trotting fillies, which is the first of the evening and slotted as race 3 on the 12-race card. Andy Miller pilots the daughter of Walner, who has won all eight of her starts and amassed over $350,000 in purses. She faces seven other rivals, including Heart Of Secret (Yannick Gingras, post 2, 5-2 morning line), who won the last preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series with a pillar-to-post 1:53.2 effort while Wall Of Fame was out of town for the $250,000 New Jersey Classic. Kissme Ifyoucan (Austin Hanners, post 3, 9-2), who won the first preliminary of this series, also returns to Kentucky following a runner-up effort to Blue Ranger in the $300,000 Ohio Sires Stakes final on Sept. 12.
Hambletonian champion Apex’s half brother Command Center (Dexter Dunn, post 4, 2-1) leads the charge for the Kentucky Championship Series final for 2-year-old trotting males in the following race. The Marcus Melander-trained colt by Gimpanzee looks for just the second victory of his career after a pair of runner-up finishes in the last two legs of this series, with last-leg winner Captain Kenny J (Todd McCarthy, post 10, 6-1) among the finalists. Melander also sends Top Reacher (Scott Zeron, post 1, 3-1), a Muscle Hill colt who pulled a 24-1 upset in the first leg and most recently finished third in the Grade 1 William Wellwood Memorial at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Dexter Dunn has another assignment on a morning-line favorite in the next final when he steers 5-2 Tony Dinges pupil Gobstopper out of post 6 in the contest for 2-year-old pacing males. The Sweet Lou colt bagged two wins through the four prelims of the series, being foiled by Hard Four (post 7, Andy McCarthy, 6-1) in leg two and by Rumble And Sway (Tim Tetrick, post 1, 7-2) in leg three. Gobstopper enters from a 1:51.4 qualifier where he finished second behind stablemate Blazin Lou (Todd McCarthy, post 2, 9-2), whose best finish in the series was a third in the last leg after graduating from a pair of wins in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series.
Brett Pelling’s star sophomore pacing filly Miss Jum Jabber (Andy McCarthy, post 5, 4-5) looks to add another win to her sensational season with the Kentucky Championship Series final for her cohort. The daughter of Bettor’s Wish won three of the four preliminaries of the series while Bahama Momma (Joe Bongiorno, post 6, 5-2) won in the second leg. Last year’s Kentucky Championship Series winner for 2-year-old pacing fillies Topville Lucky (Todd McCarthy, post 3, 12-1) also competes in the seven-horse field.
Kountry Legacy (Trace Tetrick, post 3, 5-2), a Capt Midnight filly out of world champion Shartin N, earned morning-line favoritism in the final for 2-year-old pacing fillies off an authoritative 1:51.1 victory when shipping to town for the last leg of the Kentucky Championship Series. She faces eight other rivals including three other winners through this series in opening-leg winner Banana Beach (Andy McCarthy, post 4, 8-1), second-leg winner Seaside Ubeaut (Dexter Dunn, post 1, 6-1) and third-round upsetter Goodwalkspoiled (Kyle Husted, post 7, 9-2).
Hambletonian Oaks champion Nezuko Kamado S (Scott Zeron, post 3, 5-2) eyes revenge from a fourth-place defeat to Victorianas Secret (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., post 6, 2-1) in the last preliminary when they align for the 3-year-old filly trot final in race 8. Nezuko Kamado S won in the third leg of this series, which was also her first victory since winning the Hambletonian Oaks over fellow finalist Carve (Andy McCarthy, post 2, 9-2) in early August. Madam Cheval (Tim Tetrick, post 7, 6-1), who finished sixth in the Hambletonian Oaks and followed that effort with a 22-1 upset from post 10 in the second leg of this series, also competes in the field.
Dexter Dunn and Marcus Melander will team on another morning-line chalk late in the night with American Power (post 7, 2-1) in the final for 3-year-old trotting males. American Power shipped from a fourth-place finish in the Hambletonian to The Red Mile to win the third round of this series, but was foiled in the last leg by 53-1 stablemate Zephyr Kemp (Todd McCarthy, post 3, 9-2). Opening-round winner Requiem (Andy McCarthy, post 8, 12-1) and second-leg winner Captain Naughty (Yannick Gingras, post 6, 8-1) also line up on the gate along with Yonkers Trot champion Inexpressable (Scott Zeron, post 2, 3-1).
Pacing glamour boys wrap the stakes action with a nine-horse contest headlined by current season’s earnings leader and Meadowlands Pace champion Brandon Blvd (Dexter Dunn, post 3, 4-5). The Andrew Harris-trained Downbytheseaside colt came west from a victory in the Grade 2 Max Hempt Memorial to win in the last leg of the series with a 1:48 effort over Brett Pelling’s freaky quick Sea Bistro Hanover (Todd McCarthy, post 9, 5-2), who won the second and third legs of this series. First-round winner Funky Buddha (Tim Tetrick, post 6, 9-2) and New Jersey Classic champ Bookie J (David Miller, post 1, 8-1) will also put their noses on the gate.
Sunday’s championship card of racing also features a pair of guaranteed pools for gamblers to tackle. The Pick-4, covering races 6-9, has a $10,000 guarantee along with the 50-cent Pick-5, which covers races 3-7 and also features a carryover of $1,844. Both the Pick-4 and Pick-5 are offered at an industry-low takeout of just 12%.
First-race post time on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. (EDT).