Red Mile: Beads, Tuscany repeat in Kentucky Sires Stakes

Beads and Tuscany both improved to two-for-two in the Kentucky Sires Stakes program in 2020 by winning Sunday afternoon's pair of $40,000 contests for 3-year-old trotters at The Red Mile.

Sent off at 1-9 in the colt and gelding tilt, Beads (Andrew McCarthy) led through panels of 28 4/5, 56 3/5, and 1:24 3/5 before he trotted home in 28 seconds flat to win by four lengths in 1:52 3/5. Barley (George Brennan) was second from the pocket, with Ontopofthehill (Chris Page) back in the third position.

Trained by Per Engblom, Beads is an Archangel colt co-owned by Renee Spahr and Christina Takter. This was his fifth win from 16 career starts, and he has now earned $115,463. He paid $2.20 to win.

In the filly division, Tuscany (Brennan) pushed past Panem (Dexter Dunn) at the 28 second opening quarter and would go on to the half in 56 seconds. 2-5 favorite Hypnotic AM (Brian Sears) began a first-over move from fifth heading to the 1:24 three-quarters and had every chance to go by Tuscany through the stretch drive, but Tuscany stayed game on the front-end, holding sway to win by half a length in 1:51 2/5. Hypnotic AM had to settle for second, and Panem was the third-place finisher.

Tuscany is a daughter of Muscle Hill trained by Nik Drennan for owners Joseph Davino, Brad Shackman, and Drennan Stable LLC. Tuscany, who didn't compete as a 2-year-old and only began her racing career in late June of this year, has four victories from five appearances, and she has pocketed $62,287. She returned $9.20 to win as the second choice.