Lexington, KY — On Sunday (Sept. 15) at The Red Mile, Dame Good Time made the most of his opportunity to defeat Hambletonian victor Karl by a neck in a lifetime best of 1:50.2 in the $400,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes Series Championship final for 3-year-old male trotters.
There were, however, nine other horses who collected their trophies including two $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth Series victors.
Dame Good Time rebuffs Karl, Date Night Hanover repeats in championships for 3-year-old trotters
Dame Good Time (Scott Zeron) employed an inside journey to hand Hambletonian winner Karl (Yannick Gingras) his first loss in his last six starts by a neck in 1:50.2. Hung Over (Dexter Dunn) was third.
Dame Good Time left from post position five in the field of seven while Karl commenced his mile from post seven. Dame Good Time went straight to the lead off the gate to trot in :27.3 with Karl in third. Karl and Gingras decided it was time to go after that first split and took command with a half-mile in :55.1, relegating Dame Good Time to the pocket. Secret Agent Man (Andy Miller) came up from fourth to push Dame Good Time back to a stalking third through three-quarters in 1:23.1.
Secret Agent Man, however, broke stride entering the stretch and opened the door for Dame Good Time to proceed on the inside and hit the wire in front. Trained by Travis Alexander, Dame Good Time is a son of Chapter Seven-Dame Du Lac. It was his fourth win of season and a new lifetime best for the gelding.
Dame Good Time is owned as well as bred by John Cummins, who resides in Lexington. The gelding is now 19-5-2-3 and has earned $565,916. Dame Good Time paid $37.56 to win.
Favored Date Night Hanover (Dunn) is a dual Kentucky champion after besting Allegiant (Zeron) in 1:50.1, a new lifetime best, in the event for sophomore filly trotters. Woman Of Passion (Todd McCarthy) was third.
Leaving from post position four in the field of eight, the daughter of Chapter Seven-Don’t Wait Up was fifth at the first quarter-mile behind Allegiant through a fraction of :27. But Dunn gave his charge some rein and Date Night Hanover relished the cue. The filly went to the lead and set a split of :55 for the half-mile and another of 1:23.3 for three-quarters. Allegiant and Woman Of Passion were game but Date Night Hanover was just too good.
Trained by Marcus Melander, Date Night Hanover is owned by Jeffrey Snyder and Onda Racing Stable. The filly was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms and has earned $731,109 from 24 starts. She provided $4.16 to win to her supporters as the favorite.
Louprint, Miki And Minnie are 2-year-old Kentucky pacing champions
Louprint (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) left world champion Sippinonsearoc (Gingras) in his wake in 1:48.4 in the championship event for freshman male pacers. American Son (Dunn) rounded out the top three positions.
A son of Sweet Lou-Rockin Racer, Louprint is trained by Ron Burke. Burke Racing Stable bred and co-owns the winner of $359,864 with Weaver Bruscemi and Phillip Collura. The colt is now 7-6-1-0 and paid $2.82 as the favorite.
Miki And Minnie (Dunn) overtook pacesetter and second choice Looksgoodinloulou (Gingras) to win the championship for 2-year-old filly pacers in a lifetime best 1:49.4. Unreasonable (Zeron) was third.
The daughter of Always B Miki-That’s The Ticket is trained by Chris Ryder. The filly is owned by her breeders, Craig Henderson, Robert Mondillo and Lawrence Minowitz. Miki And Minnie’s record is 7-3-4-0. She paid $4.92 to win.
Aperfect Annie, Super Chapter are 2-year-old Kentucky trotting champions
Aperfect Annie (Todd McCarthy) annexed the second triumph of her career over Torrisi (Gingras) at 29-1 in 1:53. Yo Tillie (Verlin Yoder) was third in the 2-year-old filly trot final.
The daughter of Googoo Gaagaa-Asixpakfromperfect is trained by Carter Pinske and scored in a lifetime best. Aperfect Annie is owned by Pinske Stables, Melvin Hartman and Andray Farm. She was bred by Robert Detweiler. The filly possesses a record of 7-2-3-0 and has earned $303,000 in purse money. Aperfect Annie provided her supporters with $61.82 to win.
Super Chapter (Dunn) collected his Kentucky crown as the favorite over second choice Go Dog Go (Todd McCarthy). Chat Room (Gingras) was third. Trained by Melander, Super Chapter hit the wire with a :26.2 final quarter to boost his lifetime mark to 1:52.1. The son of Chapter Seven-Lifetime Pursuit improved his record to 7-4-1-1 and has earned $336,230. Super Chapter is owned by Jeffrey Snyder and Arthur Pronti. He was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.
Better Is Nice repeats, Direction wins her first title in 3-year-old pacing finals
It required a :25.4 final quarter for Better Is Nice (Andrew McCarthy) to withstand the favored Women Layer (Todd McCarthy) in 1:48 in the championship series contest for sophomore male pacers. Nuclear (Dunn) was third.
Better Is Nice is trained by Tony Alagna. The son of Bettor’s Wish-Thatsoververynice is owned by his conditioner, Pryde Stables and Birnam Wood Farms. Better Is Nice paid $8.16 to win as the public’s third choice. The colt has earned $924,183 from 24 career starts. Two of his 11 victories are Kentucky championships.
Direction (Todd McCarthy) outgamed defending Kentucky champion Geocentric (Tim Tetrick) by a head in 1:50 to win her first title in the Bluegrass in the division for sophomore filly pacers. Asweetbeachhere (Dunn) picked up the show spot.
Trained by Brett Pelling, the daughter of Always B Miki-Blood Red competes as a homebred for Diamond Creek Racing. Her final time was a lifetime best and Direction has a career record of 16-11-2-2 with $416,796 in the bank. Direction paid $9.06 to win.
Deja Blu, Star Attraction score in Commonwealth Series finals
Deja Blu (Gingras) bested Kadena (Dunn) to capture the $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth Series final for 2-year-old trotting fillies in 1:53.2. Kngtstlkrs Pistol (Andy Miller) was third at 88-1.
Owned by Crawford Farms Racing and Thomas Pontone, Deja Blu is the first foal out of Atlanta and is by Muscle Hill. The filly paid $2.48 to win as the favorite and is trained by Nancy Takter.
Star Attraction (Gingras) demonstrated she is quite handy with a win over Stella Volo (Todd McCarthy) in 1:52.2 in the Commonwealth final for sophomore trotting fillies. Green Fee (Wrenn) was third.
Star Attraction is trained by Ake Svanstedt and paid $7.34 to win as the public’s second choice. The daughter of Chapter Seven-Selena G is owned and was bred by Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld.
Racing continues at The Red Mile on Monday (Sept. 16) with six $100,000 divisions of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series and on Tuesday (Sept. 17) with eight $50,000 divisions of the Kentucky Golden Rod Series. First post for each date is at 1 p.m.
Tuesday’s card concludes the regular summer meet at The Red Mile. Racing, however, continues when the Grand Circuit rolls into Lexington on Sept. 26 for a two-week stand. Racing will transition to a Thursday, Friday, Saturday schedule with a 1 p.m. post time.
To receive free program pages to handicap the track with the lowest takeout in the sport visit redmileky.com.