Red Mile: Altar awesome again in Bluegrass Series

Altar improved to five-for-six at The Red Mile this year with a romping 1:50 3/5 victory in the first of three Bluegrass Series tests for sophomore trotting fillies on Sunday afternoon. Herculisa and Amazone Duharas were victorious in the other two flights.

Driven by Dexter Dunn in the $74,200 race, Altar brushed from fourth to first after the 27 3/5 opening quarter went on the board. After clicking off a 55 2/5 half and a 1:23 2/5 over the sloppy going, Altar roared home in 27 1/5 to draw off and score by 7 3/4 lengths. You Ato Dream (Jeff Gregory) was the runner-up, and Pub Crawl (Andy Miller) turned a ground-saving trip into a third-place result.

Nancy Takter trains Altar, a Diamond Creek Farm homebred. The daughter of Muscle Hill has seven career victories from 15 attempts, pushed her earnings to $206,783, and paid $3.60 to win as the 4-5 favorite.

In the next $74,200 section, Herculisa (Brett Miller), a winner of an Ohio Triple Crown this year (State Fair, Ohio Sires Stakes final, Breeders Championship), was successful in her Grand Circuit debut. Just like Altar, she swept from fourth into the lead before the 56 2/5 half, then successfully dealt with a first-over challenge from Anoka Hanover (Todd McCarthy) to the 1:25 2/5 three-quarters. In the final panel, Herculisa kicked clear, and she would prevail by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:53 1/5. Contested Hanover (Tim Tetrick) out-finished Anoka Hanover to come in second.

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Herculisa is a daughter of My MVP trained by Virgil Morgan Jr. for owner Jesmeral Stable. Bred by Joe McLead, Billy Walters, and Up Front Racing LLC., Herculisa has a summary of 12-1-0 from 16 trips behind the gate, and she has now put away $439,595. She was the 3-5 choice and returned $3.40 to win.

Amazone Duharas (Yannick Gingras) put up fractions of 28 1/5, 56 3/5, and 1:25 2/5 in the last $75,200 grouping, but in the stretch she was unable to hold off a surging Eazy Pass (David Miller), who rallied through on the inside after getting shuffled back from fourth to seventh in the middle-half of the race. Unfortunately for Eazy Pass, she made a break right at the wire and was lapped-on by Amazone Duharas, and the judges made the call to flip their positions, giving the win to Amazone Duharas. Darlene Hanover (T. McCarthy) worked out a pocket trip but had to settle for third.

A homebred for Quebec's Haras De L'Estrie, Amazone Duharas is trained by Denis Gueriel. The Muscle Hill filly made her fourth appearance in the winner's circle, has now banked $130,912, and paid $7.80 to win as the 5-2 second choice.