Lexington, KY – Odds-on favorite Whateverittakes As and 5-1 shot Special Day both vaulted off speedy early fractions and past expended rivals late to win in their respective $135,500 divisions of the Grade 3 International Stallion Stakes for 2-year-old trotting males on Thursday afternoon (Oct. 8) at The Red Mile.
Entering from a narrow defeat as the 3-2 favorite in a Grade 3 Bluegrass division last week, Kentucky Championship Series winner Whateverittakes As motored off cover to win the quicker of the two divisions with a 1:52.3 effort in the later dash sponsored by the Burke Racing Stable.
Driver Tony Hall cruised from the outermost post in the octet to secure a mid-pack seat as Easy Down Blonde (driven by Tim Tetrick) engaged with early leader Gustav Vasa (Marcus Melander) to a :27.4 first quarter. Easy Down Blonde continued pressing forward and cleared control just before a :55.2 half, where Hall managed to flush cover into a third-over position moving to the last turn.
Mahalo (Scott Zeron) fronted the outside charge but cowered once drawing to terms with Easy Down Blonde to three-quarters in 1:25. Jazzy Blues (Todd McCarthy) tipped wide from second over spinning for home with Hall following suit. Whateverittakes As then barreled down the center of the track to swoop to the lead and to the win by 1-1/4 lengths with End Result (Dexter Dunn) zipping through an inside seam from a stalking trip for second. Gustav Vasa held third and Easy Down Blonde tired to fourth.
“He’s pretty versatile,” Hall said after the race. “He’s good off a trip, he can leave quick. Once we started training him, he was just great about everything. He just kept getting better as the winter went on, and it seems like later in the year he just keeps getting a little better. He showed signs early [but] he’s got a couple little issues, so it’s up in the air if we’re going to go to the Breeders Crown or if this was going to be his last start. We’ll know in the next few days what we’re going to do.”
Anette Lorentzon trains Whateverittakes As, a homebred for ACL Stuteri Ab. The Walner colt, out of Cantab Hall mare Fortunes Dream, won for the fourth time from seven starts in his career and has now banked $336,500. He paid $2.88 to win.
Special Day (Andy McCarthy) soared off cover to post a 1:53.1 victory in the first division for freshman trotting males, sponsored by the Greenshoe Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms.
Offenbach (Scott Zeron) pushed for the early lead but yielded command when pocket-sitter Red Storm Hanover (Ake Svanstedt) circled towards the front with oncoming outside pressure approaching a :28.1 first quarter. Free Scottie (Mattias Melander), pushing on the outside through the first turn, broke stride to the backstretch, leaving stablemate Gagosian (Dexter Dunn) uncovered while Special Day tracked behind the action from fifth. Gagosian meanwhile chugged uncovered towards Red Storm Hanover and then edged to the lead just after a :55.3 half.
As the tempo slowed to the last turn, The Reason (Yannick Gingras) tipped out of fourth to launch a first-over attack and McCarthy latched Special Day onto that cover. Red Storm Hanover then vacated as The Reason advanced, and Svanstedt’s charge matched strides with tiring Gagosian to three-quarters in 1:24.3. McCarthy launched Special Day three wide rounding for home and kept grinding forward to snatch the lead in mid-stretch and kick clear from there for a 2-1/2-length victory. Red Storm Hanover took second with The Reason staying on for third and The Italian Job (Todd McCarthy) closing widest of all for fourth.
“I skipped one of the legs of the sire stakes and he’s starting to come back around,” winning trainer Chris Beaver said after the race. “I’ve noticed lately he’s got more life to him. I said if he won today, we’d think about [the Breeders Crown] pretty heavily.”
A colt by Walner out of Muscle Hill mare Hello Tomorrow, Special Day has now won three races from nine starts and earned $156,670 for owners Chris Beaver, Bill Manes and Leo Fleming. He paid $12.30 to win.
Live harness racing at The Red Mile resumes on Friday (Oct. 9) with a 14-race card headlined by the $278,000 International Stallion Stakes for 2-year-old trotting fillies and the $208,000 International Stallion Stakes for 2-year-old pacing males. First-race post time is 1 p.m. (EDT).
For more information on the 2026 live harness racing season, visit The Red Mile website (https://www.redmileracing.com).