Lexington, KY — On Sunday (Sept. 8) For July collected his third triumph in his last four trips to the post at The Red Mile in the $30,000 fourth leg of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for sophomore male trotters.
The two $80,000 fourth legs of the Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series and a $30,000 Commonwealth Series were conducted as non-wagering events on an earlier card.
The victors were Hambletonian champion and Dan Patch Award winner Karl (Yannick Gingras) in the contest for 3-year-old male trotters and Direction (Todd McCarthy) for 3-year-old filly pacers. Davenport (Andrew McCarthy) came home first in the Commonwealth Series race for 3-year-old filly pacers.
For July (Mattias Melander) bested Bright Star (Scott Zeron) and favored Skydiver (Gingras) to win his second consecutive race in Lexington in 1:53.1.
The son of Greenshoe-Clarabelle left from post position three in the field of eight in an action-packed contest. For July was sixth for the first half-mile as Sforza (Dexter Dunn) carved out the first split in :28.3. That’s when Bargain (Andrew McCarthy) took his turn on the front and established the next fractions of :56.4 and 1:25.2.
The two early leaders’ efforts began to take a toll and Skydiver assumed command rolling into the stretch but For July used an explosive last quarter kick of :26.4 to hit the wire in front of his rivals.
Trained by Lucas Wallin, For July improved his record to 13-6-0-3 lifetime. He is 10-5-0-2 in 2024 and has banked $81,229. in his career. He came into this race off setting his lifetime best in the third leg of this series on Aug. 25 in 1:52. Bred by D Farm, For July was a $360,000 purchase at the 2022 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. The colt has changed hands on several occasions but has been owned by Harbor Racing Stable, his breeder and Order By Stable AB since June of this year.
For July paid his supporters $9.84 at the windows as the public’s second choice.
Racing continues at The Red Mile on Monday (Sept. 9) and Tuesday (Sept. 10) with a 1 p.m. post.
On Sunday (Sept. 15) the facility hosts eight $400,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship events with a post time of 5:05 p.m.
To receive free program pages to handicap the track with the lowest takeout in the sport visit redmileky.com.