By Ray Cotolo, for The Red Mile
LEXINGTON,
KY— Trotting and pacing two-year-old fillies front the Friday, Sept. 27 program
at The Red Mile with four divisions of the $330,000 on the trot and two
divisions of the $280,500 Bluegrass on the pace.
Shishito
tops the opening division of the filly trot. Trained by Per Engblom, the
daughter of Father Patrick enters off a third-place finish in the $252,000
Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Championship and, recently, a second-place finish in
the $250,000 Kentucky Sires Stakes Final. Dexter Dunn drives the winner of
three races in seven starts—and over $180,000 in earnings—for owners Black
Horse Racing and John Fielding.
In
the second filly-trot split Ron Burke trainee Sister Sledge will try to stay
undefeated. Winning in all seven starts (including a 1:55.1 victory in the
$252,000 Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Championship), the Father Patrick filly has
banked $264,562. Yannick Gingras will drive from post 2 for owners Burke Racing
Stable LLC, Jason Melillo, Jerry and Theresa Silva Stables, Purnel & Libby
and Weaver Bruscemi LLC.
Kentucky
Sires Stakes champ Ms Savannah Belle heads the third Bluegrass filly trot
division. The Al Libfeld homebred won in both of her Kentucky Sires Stakes
prelims before trotting to a career-best 1:52.4 mile in the $250,000 final.
Yannick Gingras sits in the sulky behind the winner of three races in six
starts—and $179,658 in earnings—for trainer Per Engblom.
Tony
Alagna’s lightly-raced Muscle Hill filly Ramona Hill will put her unbeaten
record on the line in the final Bluegrass filly trot division. After winning by
open lengths in prelims of the Kindergarten at the Meadowlands in July, Ramona
Hill sat on the sidelines until Sept. 12 when she qualified in 1:57.2. She
ships to Lexington off a 1:54.2 victory in the $30,000 Kentuckiana Consolation
at Hoosier Park. Andrew McCarthy sits behind the earner of $25,000 as she
starts from post 2.
The
$139,750 opening division of the Bluegrass filly pace gathers eight with
Rocknificent fronting the field. A winner of three races in six starts and
$128,162, the Linda Toscano-trained daughter of Captaintreacherous enters from
a fourth-place finish in the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Championship after
pulling first over but faltering into the stretch. Brian Sears will drive
Rocknificent from post 6 for owners Enviro Stables Ltd., South Mountain Stables
and Little E LLC.
Gai
Waterhouse starts from post 1 in the $140,750 second division off a 1:50.3
career-best performance when winning the Kentucky Sires Stakes final. The
Domenico Cecere trainee has won two races from four starts and accrued $155,000
in earnings for owner Lindy Farms of Connecticut. Yannick Gingras will sit in
the bike.
Finishing
second to Gai Waterhouse in the Kentucky Sires Stakes Championship, Baby Your
The Best starts from post 6 in the same division. The Linda Toscano trainee has
won two races from seven starts and finished no worse than second in every
other outing. The Captaintreacherous filly—with $209,220 earned for owners
Richard and Joanne Young—will have David Miller at the reins.
The
nine-race card at The Red Mile on Friday also features two late-closing events
for two-year-old trotting colts and a single late-closing dash for pacing
fillies and mares. Racing gets underway with the Grand Circuit meeting’s
now-regular first-race post time of 1:00 p.m. (EDT).
