Author: by Kimberly French, for the Red Mile

He may not have been dropped into the box for the Kentucky Championship or Commonwealth Series events, but Arson served notice he may be scorching any surface his hooves are upon when capturing the final of the $50,000 Kentucky Goldenrod Series for freshman male pacers at the Red Mile on Tuesday (Sept. 19) in 1:51.1.

The Florida Amateur Driving Club (FADC), left without a home with the closure of Pompano Park last year, was reincarnated months ago as the United States Harness Drivers Club (USHDC). Due to the hospitality of Oak Grove Racing and Gaming, in Kentucky, the club had a very successful rebirth and now has a pair of hosts for the upcoming fall racing season.

Last weekend’s lengthy Illinois State Fair Colt Stakes card at Hawthorne Race Course produced some impressive victories by young state-bred pacers and trotters, and maybe the most notable was a track record performance by freshman Fox Valley Julian.

SB Bodacious (Voracious Hanover) posted the fastest mile of the night with a dominating 5-1/4-length score in the $65,000 Minnesota-sired older male pace on the Saturday (Sept. 16) Night of Champions program at Running Aces.

The Red Mile will host the finals of The Kentucky Championship Series events on Sunday (Sept. 17) with a blockbuster 10-race program featuring $3.4 million in purse money, including eight $400,000 finals bookended by a pair of $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth Series finals.

The Great Lakes Amateur Driving Association (GLADA) will host Spain’s finest amateur drivers as the “friendship series” of events continues with Ohio playing the host role after a similar competition in Spain just weeks ago.

A pair of pacing fillies and a pair of pacing geldings have been supplemented into the 53rd Jugette and the 78th edition of the Little Brown Jug, respectively.

Longtime horseman Mike Brink has had the same philosophy with his young horses every year: “Have them ready for the State Fairs and Super Night.”