Red Mile to host $2 million KYSS championship night

The best 2- and 3-year-old trotters and pacers in the Bluegrass State will be out in full force at The Mile on Sunday, Sept. 9, as the historic Lexington racetrack hosts the $2 million Kentucky Sires Stakes (KYSS) Championship Night.

Eight $250,000 finals will be featured on the race card, the richest Sire Stakes events offered in the United States. Post time for the first race is 7 p.m., with the track offering free admission and programs along with $1 beer.

The marquee event of the night is the 10th race, $250,000 contest for 3-year-old colt pacers, which features a match-up of two of the continent's premier pacers, North America Cup winner Thinking Out Loud and Adios winner Bolt The Duer, the latter also the defending KYSS champion from 2011.

The Pete Foley-trained Bolt The Duer swept both preliminary KYSS legs in open-lengths fashion, while the Bob McIntosh-conditioned Thinking Out Loud won his division of the opening round of KYSS. Thinking Out Loud skipped the second week of preliminaries to instead race against older horses at Mohawk Racetrack in Canada, where he finished fourth.

Besides Bolt The Duer, the other three 2011 KYSS champions all have made it back to the 2012 finals: Northern Miss Hall, who swept both preliminaries this year, is the favorite in the 3-Year-Old Filly Trot; Prayer Session, who has a first and second in the two KYSS openers, is the favorite in the 3-Year-Old Colt Trot; and the 3-year-old filly pacer TB Beach Girl.

Walnut Hall Ltd.'s first-year trotting sire Deweycheatumnhowe has a strong presence in the KYSS finals for 2-year-old trotters, with six of his daughters and eight of his sons going postward in their respective contests. (The Red Mile)

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