Red Mile: Dolce Amare scores in Kentucky Championship Series

On Monday (July 31), Dolce Amara (Tim Tetrick) broke her maiden in style at The Red Mile in the only $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series division for freshman trotting fillies. Lucas Wallin harnessed the granddaughter of champion Pizza Dolce on a sun-splashed afternoon in Kentucky.

Leaving from post position three in the field of 10, Dolce Amara (Muscle Hill-Ciao Dolce) was content to settle in fifth for her Hall of Fame pilot through fractions of 27 3/5 and 55 3/5 behind leader Tactical Strike (Tactical Landing-Songster Seelster). Tactical Strike broke stride past the half, leaving Stardust Volo (Muscle Hill-Sterling Volo) in the lead at the 1:25 4/5 three-quarters, with Honorable Way (Chapter Seven-Special Way) challenging her from first-over and Dolce Amara sitting second-over.

Honorable Way took charge in the early part of the stretch drive, but Dolce Amare used a 27 4/5 final kicker to out-foot Honorable Way to the wire, beating her by three-parts of a length in 1:54 1/5. Prominence (Father Patrick-Evident Beauty) rallied from seventh to third in the final quarter.

Competing as a homebred for Kjell Magne Anderson, Dolce Amara rewarded her connections with a payoff of $8.44 for a win wager. Honorable Way raced for driver Todd McCarthy and trainer Ake Svanstedt and paid $24.06 and $16.80 for place and show at 35-1. Prominence paid $7.84 to finish third with David Miller holding the lines for trainer Carter Pinske.

Dolce Amara is the second foal produced by Ciao Bella, who earned $173,809 on the racetrack. Her older full sister, Bella Ciao, sold for $300,000 at the 2020 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

Bonn and French Champagne lead the way in Commonwealth Series

Bonn (Peter Wrenn) had enough in the tank to outlast favored One World (Muscle Hill-Selfie Hanover) in the first $30,000 division of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for 2-year-old trotting filles. Trained by Melanie Wrenn, the filly is owned by David McDuffee and L&L Devisser LLC.

The daughter of Tactical Landing-Angelina Chip stopped the clock in 1:55 2/5 as the third choice and paid $8.70 to win her second start in her second attempt. One World (Tim Tetrick, Wallin) provided $3.94 to place and Local Honey (Andy McCarthy/Tony Alagna) rounded out the trifecta at $2.34.

French Champagne (Muscle Hill-French Cafe) outdueled a game Epoch (Chapter Seven-Jolene Jolene) to capture the $30,000 second flight of Commonwealth Series events. Trained and driven by Ake Svanstedt, the granddaughter of 2008 Hambletonian Oaks victress Creamy Mimi is by Muscle Hill. She paid $20.40 to win for her breeders and owners Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld.

Epoch (Tim Tetrick/Marcus Melander) closed in 26 3/5 but had to settle for second. Favored Fanny Lipkowitz paid $2.68 to show for driver Dunn and trainer Wallin.

► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter

It's My Hill, Embrace The Future and The Roxbury take Golden Rod Series legs.

It's My Hill (Yannick Gingras, Ron Burke, 1:57 4/5), Embrace The Future (Nicholas Roussel, driver/trainer, 1:57 1/5) and The Roxbury (D. Miller, Pinske, 1:55 4/5) all captured their respective $15,000 divisions in the Kentucky Golden Rod Series.

The Red Mile races on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday schedule with a 1 p.m. EDT post time.

--edited press release (The Red Mile)--