Lexington, KY – Trainer Andrew Harris looks to continue a strong season with his 2025 class of high-caliber acquisitions when sending Yo Tillie, who is undefeated from nine starts in her sophomore campaign, in the last of four divisions for the $294,200 Bluegrass 3-Year-Old Filly Trot on a stakes-packed Saturday (Sept. 27) at The Red Mile.
Harris, along with backbone partners Bill Pollock and Bruce Areman, purchased Yo Tillie from owner-trainer Verlin Yoder, who famously developed and campaigned 2018 Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year Woodside Charm, after a freshman season where she won eight races from 12 starts, all of which were in Kentucky.
Yo Tillie’s sensational start to her sophomore season – four wins from four starts including a 1:51 romp in a Del Miller Memorial division at The Meadowlands – made her a notable absence in this year’s Hambletonian Oaks, a race which does not allow supplemental eligibility. The Tactical Landing-Consolidator filly will nonetheless continue on her campaign to cement divisional domination when starting from post two as the 2-5 morning-line chalk, with Todd McCarthy in the bike, in a division sponsored by Marvin Katz.
Sophomore trotting fillies will open the Saturday card, which features 12 Bluegrass dashes total, with their first division, sponsored by Kountry Lane Standardbreds. Nancy Takter sends Champagne Problems as the 6-5 morning line choice off a 1:50.2 runner-up finish to Yo Tillie in the $250,000 New Jersey Classic final at The Meadowlands on Sept. 5. Dexter Dunn pilots the Tactical Landing-Miss Caviar filly from post two as she looks for her second win of the season.
A trio of deep-blood progeny looking flock the second Bluegrass filly trot division, carded as race three and sponsored by Marvin Katz. Spicy Nice, a Tactical Landing filly out of champion mare Maven, lands the pylon post in the eight-horse field off a fifth-place finish in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final and will have Jimmy Takter at the lines for trainer Nancy Takter. Deja Blu, a Muscle Hill filly out of 2018 Hambletonian winner and world champion Atlanta, starts a few slots wider from post three with Yannick Gingras driving in the filly’s first start for trainer Ron Burke, with her last start coming a month ago in a Kentucky Championship Series preliminary. Kadena, a Gimpanzee filly out of world champion Mission Brief, leaves from post five in this division and has Andy McCarthy in the bike for trainer Marcus Melander. The stacked field also includes last year’s Kentucky Championship Series freshman winner Aperfect Annie from post six, all while Hangover starts from post four as the 2-1 morning-line favorite off a runner-up finish in the $300,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final.
The third Bluegrass filly trot division, slated as race eight and sponsored by Kountry Lane Standardbreds, attracts Noel Daley pupil Miss Belmar as she tries for her first victory since winning a Hambletonian Oaks elimination in 1:52.3. The Muscle Hill-Chapter Too filly has Andy McCarthy in the bike and she starts one lane wide of 5-2 morning-line choice Divine Thing, a Greenshoe filly out of A Thing Goin On who puts a three-race win streak on the line for trainer Steve Carter and driver Todd McCarthy. Her wins leading to this race include a 1:54.1 victory in the $100,000 Moni Maker at Scioto Downs, a 1:53 romp as the even-money chalk in the $50,000 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes consolation and a 1:53.2 win in the $81,400 Buckette during Little Brown Jug week.
Pacing glamour boys begin their stakes engagements in race two, the first of three divisions for their $212,000 Bluegrass Stakes; a division sponsored by the Tall Dark Stranger Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms. Captain Optimistic fronts the opening group off gutsy efforts in the Little Brown Jug, where he travelled wide in both heats to finish second in the elimination and third in the $500,000 final. Scott Zeron retains the drive on the Nancy Takter-trained colt by Captaintreacherous-Cinamony and will start from post six as the 6-5 morning-line chalk. The opening division also draws D A Love Boat, who upended Louprint at odds of 24-1 in an International Stallion Stake division last year in a lifetime-best 1:48.4 mile. Yannick Gingras pilots that Captain Crunch-Addicted To Love gelding in his second start for trainer Ron Burke.
Meadowlands Pace winner Madden Oaks will confront Prince Hal Hanover for the first time since their controversial stretch battle in the Pace – where Prince Hal Hanover was placed from first to second – when he starts from post five in the second Bluegrass male pace division, which is sponsored by Anvil and Lace Farm. Braxten Boyd steers the Cam Capone pupil by Huntsville-Hard Eight, who starts as the 9-5 morning-line favorite, as he makes his first start since scratching sick from the Empire Breeders Classic at Tioga Downs in late August. Prince Hal Hanover, a Captaintreacherous-Percy Bluechip colt, meanwhile will try to rebound from a sixth-place finish in his Little Brown Jug elimination when starting from the pylon post with Todd McCarthy in the bike for trainer Dr. Ian Moore. The second division also draws Fallout, who looks to regain his footing over a track he torched in an open-length 1:48.4 effort last season. Tim Tetrick pilots the Tony Alagna-trained Captaintreacherous-Aria Hanover colt from post seven.
Sam DePinto’s speedy Papi Rob Hanover-Bang Bang colt Papis Pistol will attempt to carry his steam west when starting from post four in the final division of the Bluegrass male pace, sponsored by the Tall Dark Stranger Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms. Jason Bartlett retains the drive after piloting Papis Pistol to a 1:47.4 victory in the $150,000 New Jersey Classic Final on Sept. 5 at The Meadowlands. He competes as the 6-5 morning-line choice and starts one slot wide of Lite Up The World, the Anthony Beaton-trained American Ideal-Turnoffthelights colt who tries for his first stakes win since barreling over the top of tiring rivals for a 1:48.3 victory in his North America Cup elimination. Doug McNair picks up the drive on the colt looking to rebound off an eighth-place finish in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final.
Male trotting sophomores compete with back-to-back Bluegrass divisions starting in race five, the first of three splits for the $261,000 Greenshoe Bluegrass Stakes sponsored by the Greenshoe Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms. Jim Campbell sends 2-1 morning-line choice Fashion Green, a homebred Greenshoe gelding out of the stakes-winning mare Fashion Athena, from post five as he tries to rebound from a last-place finish following a break in stride in the $90,000 Phil Langley Memorial at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. Tim Tetrick drives the nine-time winner from 11 career starts just to the inside of Ake Svanstedt pupil Happy Jack B, who two starts ago won the $300,000 New York Sires Stakes final at Batavia Downs, and two posts inside of Carter Pinske’s quirky speed Go Dog Go, who adds hobbles after back-to-back breaks in stride in the Kentucky Championship Series. Todd McCarthy has the assignment on Go Dog Go while Ake Svanstedt will drive Happy Jack B.
Hambletonian runner-up Super Chapter leads the second Greenshoe Bluegrass division off a 1:51.1 win in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final. Dexter Dunn drives the Chapter Seven colt out of 2014 Hambletonian Oaks winner Lifetime Pursuit from post six as the 2-5 favorite against eight other rivals including Noel Daley’s Walner-Noble Lover colt Onajetplane, who won over this track last season with a 1:52.2 effort in an International Stallion Stakes division. Andy McCarthy will drive Onajetplane from post nine.
Ake Svanstedt sends 2-1 morning-line favorite Mr Mouton from post two in the final division of the Greenshoe Bluegrass, carded as race 10. The Chapter Seven-Burberry gelding makes his first start since scratching sick from the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final and has drawn inside a pair of Hambletonian finalists in Greenma, racing for trainer-driver Trond Smedshammer, and Meshuggah, who has Scott Zeron at the lines for trainer Marcus Melander off of a sixth-place finish in the $448,950 Canadian Trotting Classic final. The nine-horse field also includes Lucas Wallin trainee The Rogue Prince, a Walner colt out of two-time Dan Patch Award-winner Check Me Out, as he tries to rebound from a break in stride in the $250,000 New Jersey Classic final at The Meadowlands. Tim Tetrick will sit in the bike out of post eight.
Lastly, the sophomore pacing fillies spar in two divisions of the $171,000 Papi Rob Hanover Bluegrass Stakes, sponsored by the Papi Rob Hanover Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms, starting in race four. Jared Bako trainee The Last Martini makes her Grand Circuit return after taking the $300,000 New York Sire Stakes final at Batavia Downs on Sept. 6 and will have Doug McNair back in the bike. The Huntsville-Martinique filly competes as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in a race that also draws Ron Burke pupil Rose, a Sweet Lou-Rosemary Rose filly who won an International Stallion Stake over this track last season with a 1:50.3 mile, and Brett Pelling trainee Faze, a Sweet Lou filly out of champion mare Darlinonthebeach who looks for her first win of the season. Yannick Gingras drives Rose from post four and Tim Tetrick pilots Faze from post eight.
The latter Papi Rob Hanover Bluegrass division pins a pair of standout fillies from last season’s Grand Circuit meet in Papi Grad and Unreasonable. Papi Grad amended her three straight runner-up efforts with a 1:51 win in Bluegrass action last year before being usurped the following week by Looksgoodinloulou in a 1:48.3 mile. The Steve Carter-trained filly by Papi Rob Hanover-Betterthangraduate has maintained a low profile with just five starts this season including a 1:50 win in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division at Pocono Downs in June. Marvin Luna, a 23-year-old who earlier this season secured his first driver’s title during the 2025 meet at Oak Grove, picks up the drive on Papi Grad while Scott Zeron grabs the drive on Erv Miller trainee Unreasonable, who starts from post eight as the 6-5 morning-line favorite. Unreasonable, a Huntsville-Roaring To Go filly who won a Bluegrass division in 1:51 last fall, enters this race off of a third-place finish in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final.
The Saturday program at The Red Mile, with 15 races total, begins at 1 p.m. (EDT). Saturday’s 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 and has another sequence start in race eight, at The Red Mile features a low takeout of 12 percent.