Charleston heads Kentucky Sire Stakes card

OAK GROVE, KY — Breeders Crown runner-up Charleston invades Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel for Tuesday’s (June 27) second round of the Kentucky Sire Stakes for harness racing 3-year-olds, as do a number of harness racing’s premier trainers and drivers.

Charleston, who most recently rallied for second behind Sylvia Hanover in the $319,200 Fan Hanover, on June 17 at Woodbine Mohawk Park, has been made the 4-5 morning line favorite in the lone 3-year-old filly pace, carded as the first of 13 races on the program. A six-time winner with $415,647 in earnings, Charleston will retain the services of driver Tim Tetrick for trainer Brett Pelling and will start from the outermost post in the seven-horse field. Her main competition comes from Diamondsnpearls (David Miller, post one), who won the first leg of the series in 1:51.2. David Miller will drive for Nancy Takter.

The 3-year-old filly trot also boasts a prohibitive favorite, as Mambacita delivered a decisive 1:54.2 drubbing to her eight rivals in round one, on June 13. Yannick Gingras returns to drive the Tony Alagna trainee from the pole in a field of eight, and the pair have been installed the 6-5 favorite. A five-time winner, Mambacita was second to Bond in last year’s Goldsmith Maid and has banked $542,861.

Fourteen sophomore male trotters were split into two seven-horse fields, carded as races three and seven, each led by a first-round winner. Mohatu As, who rode the pocket to a 1:54.1 win on June 13, is the 2-1 early choice in race three, and has gained the services of driver Tyler Smith for trainer Anette Lorentzon. In the seventh race, Sparks Fly (Atlee Bender, post two) — the faster of the two first-round winners by virtue of a 1:54 score — is the 3-1 second choice, behind Julie Miller trainee Espresso (Andy Miller, post one), the 2-1 morning line favorite after winning six races and banking $243,400 in his rookie season.

First-round winners Admiral Hill and A Cool Moment likewise dodge each other in the 3-year-old male pace (races five and eight). Admiral Hill, whom Tetrick will drive for Chris Ryder from post seven in the first division, is the 7-2 third choice behind a pair of Woodbine invaders in Tip Top Cat (Yannick Gingras, post five, 5-2) and Kopi Luwak (David Miller, post one, 3-1) — both of whom started in North America Cup eliminations earlier in the month but failed to qualify for the final. The second division is led by A Cool Moment (Joey Putnam, post six, 3-1), who is now four-for-six in his career after a gritty 1:52.2 win in round one, and Larceny (David Miller, post eight, 5-2), who posed a stern threat to A Cool Moment up the backstretch as the 1-6 favorite in the first round.

The top eight point earners after the second preliminary round will be eligible to compete in their respective $100,000 series finals on July 4.

Nationally renowned drivers Dexter Dunn, Yannick Gingras, David Miller, Andy Miller and Tim Tetrick are slated to compete on the 13-race card, as are trainers Tony Alagna, Jenn Bongiorno, Erv Miller, Julie Miller, Brett Pelling, Chris Ryder and Nancy Takter.

For those playing Oak Grove, full card handicapping resources are available on the track’s website by clicking here.

First post is 3 p.m. CDT (4 p.m. EDT).

For complete race entries, click here.

From Oak Grove Racing