Red Mile: Brandon Blvd dives into the Kenttucky Championship Series

Brandon Blvd, who currently leads all horses in earnings on the season with nearly $900,000 banked, will journey to The Red Mile on Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 8) for the $80,000 final leg of the Kentucky Championship Series for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings.

The Downbytheseaside-Alexis Faith colt, with six wins on the year from nine starts, including graded stakes scores in the Meadowlands Pace and Max Hempt Memorial, earned the honor of morning-line favorite at odds of 6-5 and drew post three in the six-horse contest, slated as Race 6 on the 10-race card. Dexter Dunn pilots the Andrew Harris pupil that joins a competitive group in Sea Bistro Hanover (driven by Todd McCarthy, post one, 2-1 morning line), who has won back-to-back in this series while uncorking a 24 2/5 final quarter to score in the third leg, as well as opening-round winner Funky Buddha (Tim Tetrick, post four, 9-2) and Kentucky Golden Rod Series graduate Benny B Hill (David Miller, post five, 8-1).

Hambletonian Oaks champ Nezuko Kamado S eyes back-to-back wins herself in the Kentucky Championship Series when she starts as the 9-5 morning-line chalk in the $80,000 fourth preliminary for sophomore trotting fillies, scheduled as Race 5 on the 10-race card Wednesday (Sept. 9). Scott Zeron steers the Marcus Melander pupil who rolled over the top for a comfortable 1:51 1/5 win in the third preliminary last week. She'll face nine rivals, including opening-round winner Victorianas Secret (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., post eight, 5-2), who resurfaces from a 1:51 2/5 victory in the Grade 1 Delmonica Hanover on Aug. 22 at Pocono Downs, as well as second-leg winner Madam Cheval (Tim Tetrick, post one, 6-1) and last week's second- and third-place finishers in Islandgirl Hanover (Joe Bongiorno, post seven, 7-2) and Ygritte (Mattias Melander, post 10, 8-1), respectively.

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Two-year-old pacing fillies open the race week with the headline event on the Sunday evening (Sept. 6) card of racing, the $80,000 fourth preliminary of their Kentucky Championship Series. The 11-horse contest, carded as Race 5, gathers opening-round winner Banana Beach (Josert Fonseca, post nine, 9-2), second-leg winner Seaside Ubeaut (Dexter Dunn, post four, 3-1) and third-leg upsetter Goodwalkspoiled (Kyle Husted, post three, 7-2) in the highly-contentious field that also lures an Indiana invader in Kountry Legacy (Trace Tetrick, post one, 7-2), a Capt Midnight filly out of world champion Shartin N with five in-the-money finishes from six starts.

The $80,000 final leg of the Kentucky Championship Series for 2-year-old trotting fillies attracts an overflow field of 11 with current series leader Wall Of Fame out of town for the New Jersey Classic. Oak Grove series champ Heart Of Secret (Joe Bongiorno, post 10, 7-2) aims for the winner's circle after three straight runner-up finishes in this series, while trainer Erv Miller ships Indiana phenom Redice (Atlee Bender, post seven, 5-2) back to Kentucky, where she debuted an open-length winner when going pillar-to-post in the opening round of Kentucky Sire Stakes at Oak Grove. Several fillies also make their Championship Series return after dropping to the lower-level series in Fascination (Marcus Miller, post four, 8-1), Heaven Knows (Peter Wrenn, post eight, 15-1) and Merry Zee (Chris Page, post nine, 6-1).

Each race day also features $30,000 divisions of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series, $15,000 divisions of the Kentucky Golden Rod Series and $10,000 divisions of the Kentucky Wildcat Series. First-race post time on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. (EDT) and 1 p.m. on Monday through Wednesday.

--press release (Red Mile)--