Champagne Problems leads nine Bluegrass Divisions

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Fresh from her 1:54 win in the $305,000 Jim Doherty Memorial, Champagne Problems (Tactical Landing) treks southward to The Red Mile to compete in the first of six Bluegrass harness racing divisions for 2-year-old trotting fillies on Friday (Sept. 27), a card which includes three Bluegrass dashes for 2-year-old pacing colts and geldings.

Champagne Problems, a four-time winner from seven outings with $327,504 in the bank, starts from post 2 in the opening trotting filly split as the 6-5 morning line chalk. Dexter Dunn stays in the bike of the Nancy Takter-trained daughter of Tactical Landing who took her 1:52.3 lifetime mark in winning the $240,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes final on Hambletonian day.

The second division of the filly trot, going as the race following, sees Royal Mission (Chapter Seven) make her first start since finishing third to Champagne Problems in the Jim Doherty Memorial. Scott Zeron steers the Marcus Melander-trained filly who won the $225,000 New York Sire Stakes final two starts ago and, before that, an elimination of the Peaceful Way Stakes. A full sister to Canadian Trotting Classic winners Ahundreddollarbill (2021) and Slay (2022), Royal Mission races from post 4; to the left flank of even-money morning-line favorite Country Victory, who enters off a second-place finish in the Standardbred Stakes at the Delaware County Fair and picks up Yannick Gingras in the bike for trainer Melvin Schmucker.

A stacked octet aligns for the third Bluegrass filly trot in Race 4. Aperfect Annie, off her 29-1 upset in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final, lands post 2 in her Grand Circuit debut against a group that includes R Dutchess, third-place finisher in the $288,600 Peaceful Way Stakes, and Deja Blu, winner of the $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth final and a daughter of 2018 Hambletonian winner Atlanta. Todd McCarthy pilots Aperfect Annie for trainer Carter Pinske while Canadian Jody Jamieson will again come south to drive R Dutchess from post 4 for John Butenschoen. Deja Blu, a Nancy Takter trainee, races from post 8 in rein to Yannick Gingras.

Division four features the Grand Circuit debut of Kadena, a filly from the first crop of Gimpanzee out of world champion mare Mission Brief; herself still the record holder for the fastest mile by a 2-year-old trotting filly from her 1:50.3 scorcher over The Red Mile in 2014. Kadena has finished no worse than second in her five starts with two visits to the winner’s circle. Dexter Dunn drives the Kentucky Commonwealth runner-up and $800,000 yearling purchase from post 5 for conditioner Marcus Melander.

New Jersey Classic runner-up Delaney Hanover holds high expectations as the 4-5 morning line favorite in the fifth Bluegrass split for trotting fillies. Todd McCarthy sticks with the Lucas Wallin-trained Muscle Hill filly off her fourth-place finish as the 4-5 choice in the Jim Doherty Memorial on Sept. 13. She’ll start from post 2 alongside Marcus Melander pupil Margareta Hanover, a daughter of Maharajah and a half-sister to current leading trotter in North America Jiggy Jog S, in the field of seven.

Luna Lovegood (Gimpanzee) will attempt to course correct from her fourth-place finish in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final as the even-money favorite when she starts from post 7 in the sixth and final Bluegrass division for trotting fillies. The filly, who pocket popped to a 1:51.4 lifetime mark earlier this year at The Red Mile, retains Dexter Dunn against a group that features Spicy Nice, a Nancy Takter-trained daughter of Tactical Landing out of champion mare Maven. Spicy Nice, with one win on her card from seven starts, races from post 3 with Andy McCarthy between the wheels.

Two Bluegrass divisions for 2-year-old trotting fillies go as “The Norman Woolworth Memorial” and three as the “Margarreta Wallenius-Kleberg Memorial”. Both are sponsored by Arden Homestead Stable, E.T. Gerry Jr. and Peter Gerry, Stoner Manor Inc., Menhammer Stuteri AB, Jorgen Jahre Jr., LST Stables, Lawrence DeVan and William DeVan. The last Bluegrass 2-Year-Old Filly Trot goes as the Arlene Siegel Memorial and is sponsored by Jules Siegel and Fashion Farms.

Freshman pacing colts and geldings also compete in three divisions of the $350,000 Stay Hungry Bluegrass Stakes, sponsored by the Stay Hungry Syndicate and Hanover Shoe Farms, on Friday.

Friday’s card opens with the first division of the Stay Hungry, which gathers nine behind the starting gate including Caviart Act Two, a Nancy Takter-trained Captain Crunch filly out of champion pacing mare Caviart Ally, from post 3. Andy McCarthy pilots Caviart Act Two following her steady rally from post 10 to finish fifth in the $50,000 Kentucky Golden Rod final on Sept. 17. She is listed at 10-1 on the morning line in a race where Travis Alexander trainee Lochlan Hanover earns morning-line favoritism at 5-2 from post 9 following a third-place effort in a 1:51.4 mile in a $38,500 Reynolds Memorial division at Tioga Downs.

Ayeaye Captain Deo, who missed the Metro Pace final with a sixth-place effort in his elimination, also competes in the first division from post 8 just to the outside of Wavemaker, a Tony Alagna trainee who finished third in the $100,000 Kentucky Commonwealth final.

Pacing colts and geldings return to action in Race 7 for the second division of the Stay Hungry. Banderas, who dodged the Kentucky Golden Rod final to try his hand in Canada and finished fifth in the $740,000 Metro Pace, returns to The Red Mile and starts as the 2-1 morning-line chalk. James MacDonald will travel down to drive the Tony Alagna-trained Tall Dark Stranger colt, out of Breeders Crown winner Reflect With Me, from post 6.

Delray Beach, winner of the $50,000 Kentucky Golden Rod final, also races in the second division. Yannick Gingras sticks with the Nancy Takter trainee, a colt by Tall Dark Stranger out of stakes-placed mare Idyllic Beach, and competes from post 3.

The final division of the Stay Hungry pins Thirsty Thursday and American Son against six other foes. Thirsty Thursday, a Travis Alexander-trained colt by Huntsville, competes from post 3 off a third-place finish as the 4-5 favorite in the $225,000 New York Sires Stakes final back on Sept. 7. He’s drawn alongside Chris Ryder trainee American Son, an American Ideal colt who faded to third in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final back on Sept. 15. Dexter Dunn sticks with American Son from post 4.

Friday’s card features 15 races on the program. First-race post time is 1 p.m. (EDT).

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Ray Cotolo, for The Red Mile