posted on 9/27/2012 5:41 pm
The Sunday afternoon card at The Red Mile wraps up the
Bluegrass series with the three year old colt and filly trotting stakes.
The fillies begin the card in the first half of the
double with the first of three divisions each for a purse of around $70,000.
The daughters of a couple of great trotting mares headline the opener with
Passionate Glide's first foal On The Bright Side perhaps the most accomplished
of the sextet. She faces the rapidly improving Bluff (a daughter of Blur) who
just lowered the half mile track world record to 1:54- in her last start at
Delaware.
The
fourth race is a rematch of the one - two finishers from this year's Hambletonian
Oaks, Personal Style and Win Missy B. Personal Style is closing in on a half
million dollar season for Brittany Farms and trainer Nifty Norman. Win Missy B
has enjoyed stellar campaigns at both two and three with career earnings well
in excess of $1 million. Charlie Norris has developed and managed her from the
start for prolific owner, Bob Key.
Current leader in Horse of the Year polls, Check Me Out
offers a reason to stay for the entire card as she is slated to compete in race
11. In the midst of another sublime season for Charlie Iannazzo and trainer/
co-owner Ray Schnittker, the multiple world champ is as sharp as ever and comes
to Lexington after vanquishing a pretty solid field of older horses from the
nine hole on a sloppy track at Tioga in her last start. Maven would likely be
the star of any other season, but was just born in the wrong year. She'll give
it another go on Sunday. Valdonna is in the best form of her career and poses
an upset threat.
The colts race for a total of $227,000 and populate
races two, five and twelve, with Guccio and Magic Tonight the logical choices
in the first split.
Little Brown Fox was justthisclose to winning the
Canadian Classic his last start and has a very high cruising speed. He has
earned over $700,000 in a solid campaign for owners Christine Takter, Brittany
Farms and the Fieldings, John & Jim. He'll be the punter's choice in race
five, facing a solid if unspectacular field.
The
twelfth race features Kentucky Sires Stakes champion Fusion Man facing open stakes
types again after a solid second in the Old Oaken Bucket over the Delaware half
in his last start. Tyler Smith has an excellent chance to add a Grand Circuit
victory to his rapidly broadening resume at age 19 with the colt owned by TD
Trot and trained by his father Jeff.
Perhaps the most intriguing race of the afternoon is
race 10, the only overnight on the card. That one is a $7,500 Open Handicap
prep for next's week's Allerage Farms Open Trot. The race features two of the
titans of the division with this year's sensation Chapter Seven and the
venerable $3.5 million winning Arch Madness among the entrants.
Sunday's post time is 1:00PM, as will be the case
Thursday-Sunday next week. For further information, visit the Red Mile website.
