Red Mile: $3.2 million on the line during Night of Champions

The stars of harness racing will flock to The Red Mile on Sunday night (Sept. 20) for a $3.2 million Night of Champions, featuring eight $400,000 finals of the Kentucky Championship Series for 2- and 3-year-olds.

Undefeated Wall Of Fame will put her record on the line when she starts from post one as the 4-5 favorite in the final for 2-year-old trotting fillies, which is the first of the evening and slotted as Race 3 on the 12-race card. Andy Miller pilots the daughter of Walner, who has won all eight of her starts and amassed over $350,000 in purses, as she faces seven other rivals, including Heart Of Secret (Yannick Gingras, post two, 5-2 morning line), who won the last preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series with a pillar-to-post 1:53 2/5 effort while Wall Of Fame was out of town for the $250,000 New Jersey Classic. Kissme Ifyoucan (Austin Hanners, post three, 9-2), who won the first preliminary of this series, also returns to Kentucky following a runner-up effort to Blue Ranger in the $300,000 Ohio Sires Stakes final on Sept. 12.

Hambletonian champion Apex's half-brother Command Center (Dexter Dunn, post four, 2-1) leads the charge for the Kentucky Championship Series final for 2-year-old trotting males in the following race. The Marcus Melander-trained colt by Gimpanzee looks for just the second victory of his career after a pair of runner-up finishes in the last two legs of this series, with last-leg winner Captain Kenny J (Todd McCarthy, post 10, 6-1) among the finalists. Melander also sends out Top Reacher (Scott Zeron, post one, 3-1), a Muscle Hill colt who pulled a 24-1 upset in the first leg and most recently finished third in the Grade 1 William Wellwood Memorial at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

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Dexter Dunn has another assignment on a morning-line favorite in the next final when he steers 5-2 Tony Dinges pupil Gobstopper out of post six in the contest for 2-year-old pacing males. The Sweet Lou colt bagged two wins through the four prelims of the series, being foiled by Hard Four (post seven, Andy McCarthy, 6-1) in leg two and by Rumble And Sway (Tim Tetrick, post one, 7-2) in leg three. Gobstopper enters from a 1:51 4/5 qualifier where he finished second behind stablemate Blazin Lou (Todd McCarthy, post two, 9-2), whose best finish in the series was a third in the last leg after graduating from a pair of wins in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series.

Brett Pelling's star sophomore pacing filly Miss Jum Jabber (Andy McCarthy, post five, 4-5) looks to add another win to her sensational season with the Kentucky Championship Series final for her cohort. The daughter of Bettor's Wish won three of the four preliminaries of the series while Bahama Momma (Joe Bongiorno, post six, 5-2) won in the second leg. Last year's Kentucky Championship Series winner for 2-year-old pacing fillies Topville Lucky (Todd McCarthy, post three, 12-1) also competes in the seven-horse field.

Kountry Legacy (Trace Tetrick, post three, 5-2), a Capt Midnight filly out of world champion Shartin N, earned morning-line favoritism in the final for 2-year-old pacing fillies off an authoritative 1:51 1/5 victory when shipping to town for the last leg of the Kentucky Championship Series. She faces eight other rivals, including three other winners through this series in opening-leg winner Banana Beach (Andy McCarthy, post four, 8-1), second-leg winner Seaside Ubeaut (Dexter Dunn, post one, 6-1) and third-round upsetter Goodwalkspoiled (Kyle Husted, post seven, 9-2).

Hambletonian Oaks champion Nezuko Kamado S (Scott Zeron, post three, 5-2) eyes revenge from a fourth-place defeat to Victorianas Secret (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., post six, 2-1) in the last preliminary when they align for the 3-year-old filly trot final in Race 8. Nezuko Kamado S won in the third leg of this series, which was also her first victory since winning the Hambletonian Oaks over fellow finalist Carve (Andy McCarthy, post ttwo, 9-2) in early August. Madam Cheval (Tim Tetrick, post seven, 6-1), who finished sixth in the Hambletonian Oaks and followed that effort with a 22-1 upset from post 10 in the second leg of this series, also competes in the field.

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Dexter Dunn and Marcus Melander will team on another morning-line chalk late in the night with American Power (post seven, 2-1) in the final for 3-year-old trotting males. American Power shipped from a fourth-place finish in the Hambletonian to The Red Mile to win the third round of this series, but was foiled in the last leg by 53-1 stablemate Zephyr Kemp (Todd McCarthy, post three, 9-2). Opening-round winner Requiem (Andy McCarthy, post eight, 12-1) and second-leg winner Captain Naughty (Yannick Gingras, post six, 8-1) also line up on the gate along with Yonkers Trot champion Inexpressable (Scott Zeron, post two, 3-1).

Pacing glamour boys wrap the stakes action with a nine-horse contest headlined by current season's earnings leader and Meadowlands Pace champion Brandon Blvd (Dexter Dunn, post three, 4-5). The Andrew Harris-trained Downbytheseaside colt came west from a victory in the Grade 2 Max Hempt Memorial to win in the last leg of the series with a 1:48 effort over Brett Pelling's freaky-quick Sea Bistro Hanover (Todd McCarthy, post nine, 5-2), who won the second and third legs of this series. First-round winner Funky Buddha (Tim Tetrick, post six, 9-2) and New Jersey Classic champ Bookie J (David Miller, post one, 8-1) will also put their noses on the gate.

Sunday's championship card of racing also features a pair of guaranteed pools for gamblers to tackle. The Pick 4, covering Races 6-9, has a $10,000 guarantee along with the 50-cent Pick 5, which covers Races 3-7 and also features a carryover of $1,844. Both the Pick 4 and Pick 5 are offered at an industry-low takeout of just 12 percent.

First-race post time on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. (EDT).

--press release (Red Mile)--