Oak Grove, KY — Women Layer and Woman of Passion look to complete sweeps of their respective Kentucky Sire Stakes series for 4-year-olds on Tuesday (June 24) at Oak Grove Racing & Gaming, where they will head to post as odds-on morning line choices in their respective $150,000 championship events.
Women Layer, a perfect six-for-six this season, is the 2-5 early choice in the 4-year-old male pace, which attracted a field of six and is carded as race two on Tuesday’s 15-race program. The Sweet Lou-Loreenas Ruffian gelding won the spring series championship in 1:49.2 and has since reeled off three more open-length wins in preliminary action. Todd McCarthy will once again handle the driving duties of the career earner of $561,079, who leaves from post two, for trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. Among the five looking to upend Women Layer are Lou Hill (Dexter Dunn, post three), who finished second to Women Layer both in the spring series championship and the most recent preliminary leg, and Better Is Nice (Andy McCarthy, post six), who was second to Women Layer in the first two preliminary rounds of the current series.
Woman Of Passion also seeks a series sweep, but will have to overcome the outermost post eight in the 4-year-old mare trot, carded as Tuesday’s eighth race. The daughter of Walner-Womans Will was narrowly defeated by Spy Coast in her first start of the season, but has since won five races in a row, including a 5-1/4-length decision in the spring series final and matching 1:52.4 miles in her two most recent preliminaries. Todd McCarthy drives the Carter Pinske trainee, who has been installed as the 4-5 morning line favorite and who has banked $489,499 in her career to date.
Tuesday’s card also features the $150,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes finals for 4-year-old pacing mares and 4-year-old trotting colts and geldings. Bath Bomb (Andy McCarthy, post five) starts as the 4-5 morning line favorite in the final for pacing mares, carded as race three, while seeking back-to-back wins in series finals; she won the $100,000 final back on May 11 at Oak Grove with a 1:49.4 effort. Per Engblom trains the Lather Up-Sangaal mare for owner Morrison Racing Stables.
In the final for 4-year-old trotting colts and geldings, scheduled as Race 6, Ways N Means (Andy McCarthy, post 1) will also look to snag back-to-back wins in series finals, himself a winner in the $100,000 final with a 1:53.4 effort. Paula Wellwood trains the slight morning-line choice at 5-2 for owners Dreamville Stable and Harbor Racing Stable LLC.
Oak Grove features stakes-heavy cards on both Monday (June 23) and Tuesday, as the first round of the Kentucky Sire Stakes for 2- and 3-year-olds also commences with over $1 million in purses on offer across the two days. First post both days has been shifted forward to 9 a.m. (CDT) in anticipation of extreme heat blanketing southern Kentucky. A third program for the week has been carded on Wednesday (June 25) to accommodate overnight horses; post time for that day’s first race is 1:25 p.m. (CDT).