Lexington, KY – The annual fortnight of world-class harness racing at The Red Mile commences this Thursday (Sept. 25) with the opening day of the Grand Circuit meeting, featuring seven divisions of freshmen slated to compete in Bluegrass action on the 13-race card.
Stakes competition gets underway in the second half of the early daily double with the first of four divisions of the $330,000 Bluegrass 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot, the opening division of which is sponsored by the Sig Sauer Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms. Noel Daley, the 2024 Dan Patch Trainer of the Year, sends 2-1 morning line chalk Minoan as the Bar Hopping colt, out of the SJ’s Caviar mare Regal Woman, looks to add to his six-figure account off a fourth-place finish in a Kindergarten preliminary at The Meadowlands. Todd McCarthy pilots the colt from post two, just outside of Nancy Takter’s Greenshoe pupil Onassis as he returns to Lexington off a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth final on Sept. 15. Yannick Gingras has the driving assignment on Onassis.
The first of three divisions for the $328,000 Bluegrass 2-Year-Old Filly Pace immediately follows in the afternoon’s third race, which is sponsored by Brittany Farms. Big Weekend dips from a seventh-place finish in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final into potentially lighter waters as the 2-1 favorite for trainer Travis Alexander. Tim Tetrick drives the Captaintreacherous-Tica Hanover filly from post three, next door to trainer-driver Joe Bongiorno’s precocious Papi Rob Hanover prospect Amira Hanover. Erv Miller also sends his Tall Dark Stranger filly Kissin In The Dark, out of the stakes-winning mare Yagonnakissmeornot, from post six in rein to David Miller following a third-place rally at odds of 101-1 in the $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth final.
Bargain yearling Topville Lucky looks to add to her nearly unblemished record in the second Bluegrass division for pacing fillies, carded as race six and sponsored by the Beach Glass Syndicate and Winbak Farm. The $27,000 yearling purchase for the tandem of Bill Pollock, Bruce Areman and trainer Andrew Harris has found the winner’s circle in all but one of her five starts, with her lone loss coming as a result of a break in stride. Dexter Dunn retains the drive after guiding the Sweet Lou-Warrawee Winx filly to a 1:50.4 score in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final. She starts from post one as the 3-5 morning-line favorite in an eight-horse field that also features Beautiful Memory, a Perfect Sting filly out of the 2019 Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Filly Pace champion Reflect With Me. Scott Zeron drives that rival for trainer Tony Alagna out of post four.
Colts and geldings return to the track in race eight for the second division of the Bluegrass freshman male trot, where trainer Ake Svanstedt sends an eye-catching pair in the race sponsored by Al Libfeld Equine. Svanstedt will pilot Mr Penner, a gelding by his former pupil and 2021 Hambletonian champion Captain Corey out of the Muscle Hill mare Wet My Whistle, from post five as the 3-1 second choice on the morning line. He will leave just outside of Nordic Dancer S, a full pacing-blooded brother to this year’s Hambletonian winner Nordic Catcher S. Dexter Dunn pilots the Six Pack colt out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare That Woman Hanover as he looks for just the second win of his career. Meanwhile morning-line favorite Mr Big Spender, a colt by Captain Corey-Reilly K, will have to overcome post eight in the eight-horse field for trainer Norm Parker and driver Mike Wilder after the colt finished third in the $368,950 Peter Haughton Memorial to this season’s Mohawk Million winner Apex.
Pacing fillies wrap their stakes action for the afternoon in race nine, which is also sponsored by the Beach Glass Syndicate and Winbak Farm. Ron Burke trainee Barbuda Belle, by Captaintreacherous out of the stakes-winning mare Uffizi Hanover, starts from post eight as the 5-2 morning-line choice after she crushed with a 1:50 lifetime-best effort to win the $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth final at odds of 15-1. Yannick Gingras stays in the bike on the hardened filly making her ninth start of the campaign. Hope Hill, runner-up in that Kentucky Commonwealth final, also competes in this division two slots inside for trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. and driver Dexter Dunn. The Papi Rob Hanover-Ruth Hill filly looks to add to her resume, which has yet to see her miss the board from six starts.
Kentuckiana Farms sponsors the penultimate division of the Bluegrass male trot, which draws Kentucky Championship Series runner-up It Could Be Worse for trainer Linda Toscano. The colt by Captain Corey-Emiliciousboomboom gave chase for a second-place finish in the $400,000 final to Endurance, who shipped to Canada following that win and nearly snagged victory against Apex in the Mohawk Million. Scott Zeron pilots It Could Be Worse as the 9-5 morning-line chalk from post two.
Zephyr Kemp fronts the closing division of Bluegrass action, which is sponsored by the Volume Eight Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms, on the Thursday card as the 2-1 chalk out of post three for trainer Marcus Melander. The Calgary Games-Southwind Adele colt looks for amends off a fourth-place effort as the even-money choice in the Kentucky Commonwealth final two weeks ago. Dexter Dunn stays in the bike in the seven-horse field that also attracts Commonwealth third-place finisher Requiem from post five for trainer Matthew Burkholder and driver David Miller as well as Impossible Bi from the pylon post off a fifth-place finish in the Kentucky Championship Series final for trainer Erv Miller. Scott Zeron picks up the drive on Impossible Bi.
The 13-race card to open the Grand Circuit meet at The Red Mile begins at 1 p.m. (EDT). The Thursday card also features a $7,500 guarantee on the Early Pick 4, which covers races 6-9. Every Pick 4 and the 50-cent Pick 5, which begins in race three, at The Red Mile features a low takeout of 12 percent.