Racing's stars in action Saturday at Red Mile

September 26, 2012

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The stars of harness racing will light up the night sky in Lexington on Saturday, with the 2- and 3-year-old pacers dominating the 12-race card.

The Bluegrass freshman colt pacers will cover five divisions for a total purse of more than $425,000, and yes, the "Captain� is in the house. Trainer Tony Alagna and racing manager Myron Bell have directed Captaintreacherous through a nearly flawless campaign for owners Brittany Farms and White Birch Farms, Marvin Katz and Joe Sbrocco, picking up the hardware for the Woodrow Wilson and the Metro--and nearly $750,000 along the way.

The Somebeachsomewhere colt has three sub-1:50 wins to his credit and will come into the race after a brief freshening. The main competition appears to be the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes champ Good Day Mate and the Canadian invader Apprentice Hanover in the 11th race on Saturday.

Wake Up Peter also resides in the Alagna barn but has not generated the headlines that his stablemate has, but does show sneaky-good lines and may well be the horse to beat in another Bluegrass division, race 12.

Earlier on the program, Bob McIntosh will have Dress The Part looking primed for success in the first Bluegrass division, race 2. He'll hook Dedi's Dragon, a colt on the improve from the Ronnie Burke stable, and Dovuto Hanover, who has apparently recovered from an absolutely withering trip in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Final as the 1-2 favorite. Race three will be another division and Fool Me Once will make his stateside debut for trainer Mark Austin. Our Dragon King is a very good Pennsylvania colt from the Sam De Pinto barn and the path to the winner's circle may well go through him.

The fifth freshman division features the really fast Odds On Equuleus, trained by Robin Schadt for Dana Parham's Odds On Racing. He missed in the Metro Final by just a neck and is an obvious early favorite in his division. Johnny Rock and Rockin Amadeus will provide the competition here.

Also on the big Saturday card the 3-year-old pacing colts will be featured, and most of the marquee players have shown up to race for $100,000 in each of the two divisions. North America Cup winner Thinking Out Loud will again square-off with the winner of the Meadowlands Pace, A Rocknroll Dance, in the seventh race. Those two have had more scrapes than Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard and have lived to tell of it. In division two, race 10, Sweet Lou and Bolt The Duer will tee it up another time.

The pacing fillies were split into two $70,000 divisions and the divas are all in attendance. The fifth race will pit Jugette winner Darena Hanover against the world champion from the Jugette's first heat, Shelliscape, New York Sire Stakes and Valley Forge winner Romantic Moment and top Pennsylvania-bred talent Big Mc Deal. The other split, race eight, will feature the remarkable American Jewel facing off against the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes Final winner Economy Terror and the darling of New Jersey, Sarandon Blue Chip.

First post will be at 7 p.m., eastern on Saturday night. (The Red Mile)

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