By Ray Cotolo, for The Red Mile
LEXINGTON, KY— Night two of the Grand Circuit
meeting at The Red Mile was highlighted by four divisions of the $289,000
Bluegrass Stakes for 2-year-old colt trotters, which were contested on
Thursday, Oct. 1.
Milligan’s School sat a pocket trip after
failing to clear the lead into the first turn, and slid up a seam in the
stretch to draw off to a 2-length win in 1:56.3 in the opening Bluegrass round.
Holding the top spot through fractions of :29.3, :58.3, and 1:28 was Dominion
Beach. Into the far turn, Waitlifter K supplied a challenge from first over,
while Metatron had an opportunity to fan off the cones and prepare for a wide
stretch drive. While in control, Dominion Beach drifted slightly off the
pylons, which prompted Milligan’s School to trot by to his inside. Metatron was
the fiercest closer down the center of the track, but could not out-sprint
Milligan’s School and Andy Miller at the finish. Waitlifter K held on for
third, while Make Or Miss got fourth.
Sent off the 6-5 favorite, Milligan’s School, a
$4.40 winner, is owned by Stroy Inc. and trained by Julie Miller. The earner of
$128,494 in 10 starts this season was bred by Richard and Joyce McClelland.
“That’s still pretty fresh on my mind, what
happened the other night [his break on Sept. 11 at The Meadows],” Julie Miller
said. “When we were sitting in the two hole here I said ‘Come on, let’s make
sure we take advantage of this big opportunity.’ It was a misfortune [the
break], but we bounced back tonight. That’s all you can do.”
“I’ve been really pleased with this horse,”
Miller also said. “From the word go, he’s just done everything I’ve asked. Andy
[Miller] gets along with him great, and I expect a lot of good things from
him.”
The second split was claimed by Taco Tuesday,
who benefitted from a patient drive and battled home to finish narrowly in
front of Hollywood Highway in a 1:58.2 mile. Runner-up Hollywood Highway set
the tempo for most the mile, putting up fractions of :30.2, :59.4, and a
third-quarter in 1:29.1 thanks to the pressure of first-over Desert Runner.
Taco Tuesday tracked Desert Runner two-wide into the far turn, tipping wide
into the stretch. Desert Runner held the lead shortly during the stretch, while
Hollywood Highway continued to battle for control, and Taco Tuesday edged into
a length of the battle. Into the final sixteenth, he got a neck in front of
Hollywood Highway to pull off a 12-1 upset. Finishing third was Desert Runner,
and fourth was Honor Above All via disqualification of Coughlin for a lapped-on
break.
Sired by Cantab Hall, out of the Yankee Glide
mare Be My Baby, the James Wilhite-bred colt is owned by Lindy Farms of
Connecticut, R. Rudolph, and F. Baldassare, trained by Frank Antonacci, and
driven by Andy Miller. Taco Tuesday, in his maiden-breaking score, pushes his
seasonal earnings to $39,565 in six starts.
“If you watch how we are with our two-year-olds,
we don’t race them very early,” Frank Antonacci said. “This guy I had staked to
the Peter Haughton, so I really thought a lot of him all winter. Then you fall
into some bad grooves and make some baby mistakes, and it doesn’t take long to
be in October and have $7,000 on your card.”
“He just got into a couple of bad spots where he
got too aggressive,” Antonacci said in response to the colt’s history of
breaking. “When you’re trying to race horses and get them back mentally, it’s a
little challenging sometimes. But it was nice to have Andy [Miller] qualify him
last week [at Lexington]. Obviously it paid off tonight.”
The pocket trip resulted in victory again in the
third division, with Lagerfeld stalking tempo-setter Southwind Flash before
pouncing out of the pocket in progress to a 1 1/4 length victory in 1:57.4.
Southwind Flash passed the quarter in :30.3 and the half in 1:00.4 before being
challenged by Mavens Way, who broke into the first turn due to interference by
Sutton, also off stride. Mavens Way broke before three-quarters, leaving a gap
for Lagerfeld to edge out of the pocket. Timed in 1:29.4, Lagerfeld began his
bid in the final quarter of a mile. By the final eighth, his nose emerged in
front of Southwind Flash and the margin gradually grew as the 6-5 favorite hit
the line in front. Claiming the third and fourth spots were Brownie Hanover and
Kanthaka.
Trained by Jimmy Takter, the son of Yankee
Glide, out of Yankee Paco mare Southern Senorita, paid $4.60 to win. He’s owned
by Christina Takter, John and Jim Fielding, and Herb Liverman. Lagerfeld has
now earned $279,709 in eight starts this season, with this win being his third.
“He got the perfect trip,” Jimmy Takter said.
“He got a little lucky with a couple of horses breaking in the first turn, but
it’s a tricky track tonight and last night was the same. It’s maybe slightly
better today, but it’s very sticky at the rail and a lot of horses have a
problem to find some legs there.”
“It’s normally like that when it’s a very windy
day with two-year-olds,” Takter also said in regards to the benefit of coming
off the pace. “It’s always tough to cut the mile, and on the backside there’s a
very tough wind. We got a perfect trip, but I don’t want to take anything away
from this horse. He almost made $300,000 and he’s a great potential colt.”
In a wire-to-wire performance, 7-2 third choice
Dupree was a winner in 1:57.3 over 1-2 favorite Bar Hopping, who began to
challenge for the lead heading into the far turn. Dupree set fractions of :29.3
and :59.4 before being confronted by Bar Hopping first over. The two were
stride for stride through a 1:30 third quarter before Dupree edged away from
Bar Hopping after he drifted off the turn. Bar Hopping could not recuperate the
lost ground off that turn and solely chased Dupree to the line while holding
off third-place finisher Cloud Nine Hanover and fourth-place finisher Celebrity
Pilatus.
Owned by Knutsson Trotting Inc. and Courant A B,
the Andover Hall colt out of the Muscles Yankee mare Hustle N Muscle paid $9.40
to win. This was his second win out of seven starts this season, with the
victory pushing his seasonal earnings to $114,031. He is trained and driven by
Ake Svanstedt.
“He’s a real nice horse,” assistant trainer
Bernie Noren said. “We’ve always had high thoughts for him and today he showed
up as the horse we thought he was gonna’ be. I think he likes the big track,
but he raced really good last time [in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes final]. He
was sick before that, but he’s come back and we gave him two races, and now
he’s getting back to himself again.”
Grand Circuit action resumes tomorrow, Friday,
Oct. 2, with three divisions of the $243,000 Bluegrass 2-year-old filly pace
and the $292,200 Bluegrass 2-year-old colt pace. Post time is 7:00pm.
