Peter Haughton winner You Know You Do will start from Post 1 in the first of five divisions of the Bluegrass two-year-old colt and gelding trot, presented by Hickory Lane Horse Farm, on the first day of the Grand Circuit fortnight at the Red Mile on Thursday, September 28.
By Muscle Hill and out of the Credit Winner mare You Want Me, You Know You Do will enter the race off of a second-place finish in both the elimination and the $328,000 final of the William Wellwood Memorial. The $350,000 Harrisburg Yearling Sale purchase has earned $326,074 and has recorded four wins over eight starts this season. He competes for owners Howard Taylor, Order By Stable, Bud Hatfield, Marvin Katz, Al Libfeld, and Sam Goldband. Jimmy Takter trains and Yannick Gingras will drive.
Julie Miller will send Toast Of Lindy, a Cantab Hall colt from the Credit Winner mare Bellini Lindy, in the second division of the Bluegrass. An $80,000 Lexington-Select purchase by owners Andy Miller Stable, Lindy Racing Stable, and Gaitway Stable, Toast Of Lindy will start from Post 4 and will have Andy Miller in the sulky. The colt has won three races from seven starts this season. He most recently won a $26,275 split of the Keystone Classic, and has earned $104,693.
New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) phenom Fourth Dimension matches up with Pennsylvania Sire Stakes (PASS) consolation champ Mets Hall and PASS champion Fashionwoodchopper in the third Bluegrass split. Fourth Dimension – a Chapter Seven colt out of the Muscle Hill mare Corazon Blue Chip purchased for $200,000 at the Lexington-Select sale by Courant Inc. – was undefeated in four starts before breaking in a $78,800 NYSS division at Yonkers Raceway in which he finished sixth as the 1-5 favourite. Fourth Dimension has banked $81,750 in purse earnings to this point. Marcus Melander conditions Fourth Dimension, who will start from Post 3, and Brian Sears will be in the sulky.
Mets Hall has won two consecutive races since he finished fifth in the Peter Haughton Memorial. The first of the aforementioned wins was a seven-and-one-quarter-length tally in his PASS consolation, and he followed that up with a lifetime-best effort of 1:54.2 in a Kindergarten prelim at the Meadowlands Racetrack. A winner of four races from six starts, the Cantab Hall colt from the Mutineer mare Mets Inn has earned $88,175 for owners Stroy Inc. and Andy Millers Stables Inc. Julie Miller trains the $132,000 Harrisburg Yearling Sale purchase and Andy Miller will drive from Post 7.
A winner of three races in six starts, Fashionwoodchopper, by Donato Hanover and out of the Muscles Yankee mare Woodshopper, will attempt to record his fourth consecutive win when he lines up in Post 8 Thursday. Fashionwoodchopper is coming into Thursday’s race off of a lifetime-best 1:56.1 victory in a Kindergarten prelim – a mile which came on the heels of his 38-1 upset in the $252,000 PASS Championship. The Jim Campbell-trained $100,000 Harrisburg Yearling purchase competes for owner Fashion Farms LLC and will be driven by David Miller.
Jim Campbell will also start Crystal Fashion, a Cantab Hall gelding out of the Tagliabue mare Window Willow, for Fashion Farms LLC in the fourth division of the Bluegrass. A winner of two races from eight starts, the $100,000 Harrisburg Yearling purchase has banked $93,942 this season mainly through the PASS program (he finished fourth in the $252,000 final). Tim Tetrick will drive on Thursday.
Crystal Fashion will be faced by Farsetti Hanover, the runner-up to You Know You Do in the $360,650 Peter Haughton Memorial. A colt by Donato Hanover from the Cantab Hall mare Finesse Hanover, Farsetti Hanover, who was purchased for $27,000 at the Harrisburg Yearling Sale by Ervin Miller Stables, George Golemes, and David Prushnok, has won two races from nine starts this season and has amassed $75,139 in earnings. He’ll start from Post 2 with Marcus Miller in the bike.
From Post 9, trainer Jimmy Takter will send Maxus, a Muscle Hill colt out of the Enjoy Lavec mare Gerris Joy, in the final Bluegrass split. Racing for the interests of Christina Takter and Brixton Medical Inc., Maxus, a winner of two races from nine starts, will enter the Bluegrass off of a third-place effort in the William Wellwood Memorial (he had posted a 1:56.2 lifetime-best performance while winning his elimination). Maxus has earned $125,836 in purses thus far this season. Tim Tetrick will drive Thursday.
Another freshman that will be contesting the Bluegrass after having participated in the William Wellwood is Night Rhythm, a lightly-raced son of Muscle Hill that is out of the Andover Hall mare Tail Of Night. A winner of one race from four starts this season, the Frank Antonacci-trained colt races for owners Lindy Farms Of Connecticut and Robert Rudolph. Night Rhythm will start from Post 2. He finished seventh in his William Wellwood elimination after having won a $75,104 Champlain division in 1:57.2 one week prior. Scott Zeron will drive the earner of $44,152 this season.
First-race post time for the kickoff to the Grand Circuit fortnight will be 7:00 p.m. (EDT).
(With files from the Red Mile)