Red Mile: Engblom stable out in full force for Kentucky Sire Stakes finals

There will be $2 million in Sire Stakes finals at The Red Mile on Sunday afternoon and trainer Per Engblom is hoping to get his share with horses involved in five of the eight championship events. Engblom has contenders in all four $250,000 trotting events for 2 and 3-year-olds and will also have a nice filly in the championship for juvenile pacers.

Engblom looks to get the action started on a positive note in race four, the $250,000 final for 3-year-old trotting fillies where Asiago and Whispering Oaks are represented in the field of 10. Asiago, the third-place finisher in the Hambletonian Oaks, is coming off a break in stride in last Saturday’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship at The Meadows. “I really don’t know what happened to her,” said Engblom. “I had her set up to race here at The Red Mile and she just didn’t handle The Meadows surface.”

Engblom said that Asiago (post 2) has trained back well since that race and should be all systems go in her Red Mile return. Whispering Oaks on the other hand drew post nine for the final and the trainer is hoping for some improvement. “We’ve had difficulty with her bleeding this year,” said Engblom of Whispering Oaks, an earner in 2018 of $295,444 that has gone winless in eight starts thus far in 2019.

Blood Red drew post eight for the $250,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes final for juvenile pacing fillies and Engblom considers her a pleasant surprise. “She didn’t show that much training down,” said Engblom. “She’s a laid-back filly but she’s been improving.”

Blood Red has finished on the board in all six of her career starts. The daughter of Sweet Lou is an outsider with Baby Your The Best the likely heavy favorite from the rail after consecutive Sire Stakes victories.

Ebgblom considers Super Schissel (post 2) a “late bloomer” and expects the son of Uncle Peter to be highly competitive in the final months of stakes action and beyond. “He was very good in his last start,” said Engblom of Super Schissel. “Though it was the slower division.”

The trainer suggested that he would be happy to finish in the top three with Super Schissel in a division where Greenshoe (post 6) is likely to be the prohibitive favorite. Guaranteed (post 4) gives Engblom a pair in the 3-year-old colt and gelding trot final going as race 6. “He got a bit hot last week and Jimmy (Takter) wanted to get the trip behind Greenshoe,” said Engblom. The result for Guaranteed was not the best. “We’re going to change tactics with him this week.”

There’s strength in numbers and the eighth race $250,000 Sire Stakes final for juvenile trotting fillies finds Engblom with three horses going behind the gate and all from the inside fold. Shishito (post 1), Ms Savannah Belle (post 2) and Julia C (post 5) are all coming into the race in prime condition. It’s a close call on which one Engblom believes is the best of his group, with Ms Savannah Belle given only a slim edge. “She’s probably the best right now,” said Engblom of the Muscle Hill-sired filly entering the final with consecutive Kentucky Sire Stakes scores.

Shishito will race in her second Sire Stakes championship in seven days for Engblom, having finished a hard-charging third in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final to unbeaten Sister Sledge at Harrah’s Philadelphia last Sunday. “I think she could have won that race if she was just a little closer on the turn,” Engblom said.

Julia C is still a horse the trainer continues to like despite going winless to date in six starts. The My MVP-sired filly was second twice in Sire Stakes action at The Red Mile and the trainer believed she would have three straight runner-up finishes if not for a break in stride in round two.

It’s safe to say Engblom believes he’s saved his best for last and that means Ready For Moni (post 3) in race 10, the $250,000 championship for juvenile trotting colts and geldings. Ready For Moni has won three of his four starts to date including two easy Sire Stakes victories at The Red Mile in August.

“He was all wound up that first start here,” said Engblom of the break in stride on August 8 that Ready For Moni never recovered from. “He had just shipped down two days before the race.”

Engblom believes that Ready For Moni could be a very special horse and that has a lot to do with his current demeanor as well as his most impressive pedigree. “We had two Ready Cash’s that were top 3-year-olds,” said Engblom of his time working as second trainer for Jimmy Takter. “This is a much easier horse to be around and I would say he’s more talented than the others.”

The 10-race card on Sunday goes with a special first-race post time of 3 PM.