Red Mile: Flawless Country quickest in International Stallion Stakes for rookie trotting fillies

Two-year-old trotting fillies took to the track for four International Stallion Stakes divisions on Saturday afternoon at The Red Mile, and Flawless Country, Beautiful Game, Anoka Hanover, and Iteration picked up the victories.

Flawless Country (Ake Svanstedt), the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion, took over the lead from Gimme Shelter (Dexter Dunn) before the 28 3/5 opening quarter in the first $75,750 split, then yielded to an attacking Insta Glam (Yannick Gingras) at the 56 3/5 half. Insta Glam continued in front to a 1:25 2/5 three-quarters and turned into the lane first, but then drifted out, giving all sorts of room for Flawless Country to rally through.

She did surge through on the pylons and reassume command, but also lugged in and went inside a couple pylons in mid-stretch, and though she crossed the wire first in a 1:53 mile, Flawless Country had to sweat out an inquiry. After a deliberation, it was determined she'd gone inside two pylons but had not violated any rules, so the result stood. Hello I Love You (Joe Bongiorno) was second, three-parts of a length behind the winner, and Rose Run Whitney (Matt Kakaley) came on to get third.

"I pulled the earplugs. It was the first time she had earplugs, and then she picked up the speed and got a little scared and drifted in," said Svanstedt about the incident in the lane. "I lost control. I didn't have the lines in both hands when I pulled the plugs.

"She's a very good horse. She never does anything wrong, and she's very nice to drive and nice to handle. The only thing is that she doesn't like to sleep over at another place. She wants to go home, so I think that was the reason she raced bad last week (a second-place finish in a Bluegrass divsion). She feels more at home here after two weeks. She's special. She didn't eat or drink, but now she feels more at home, so she eats and drinks better."

From the first crop of Southwind Frank, Flawless County is trained and co-owned by Svanstedt in partnership with Wolfgang A Stable Inc. and Borje Nasstrom. Flawless County, bred by Christian Stoltzfus, was a $100,000 purchase at last year's Standardbred Horse Sale and now has five victories from eight efforts to go with earnings of $323,121. Flawless Country is the third foal out of the Donato Hanover mare Aleah Hanover (1:59 4/5, $8,836), a half-sister to Cruzado Dela Noche (Muscle Massive, 1:53 3/5, $1,383,639). Flawless Country paid $4.80 to win as the favorite.

May Karp (Dunn) motored to the lead and hit the opening quarter in 28 seconds in the next $75,750 grouping, then was overtaken by Piper Hanover (Bongiorno) going to the 56 4/5 half. Piper Hanover maintained the lead around the last turn and to the 1:26 1/5 three-quarters, with Beltassima (Brian Sears) challenging her from first-over, Aunt Irene (Jimmy Takter) riding in the second-over position, and Beautiful Game (David Miller) third-over.

In the lane Beltassima and Piper Hanover continued to battle up top, but Miller angled Beautiful Game out wide off the cover, and she would power past both of them late in the going on her way to the win by half a length in 1:54 1/5. Beltassima finally got past Piper Hanover before the wire to finish second.

Nifty Norman trains Beautiful Game, a filly by Muscle Hill, for owners Mel Hartman, David McDuffee, and Enzed Racing Stable Inc. Beautiful Game, who was bred by Brittany Farms LLC., Marvin Katz, and Al Libfeld and is a half-sister to the Father Patrick mare Special Honor (1:53 4/5, $290,638), now has a record of 2-6-1 from ten appearances, and she boosted her bankroll to $179,425. She returned $5.60 to win.

Anoka Hanover (Todd McCarthy) backed up her Bluegrass win from a week ago with a 1:53 2/5 triumph in the third $75,750 International Stallion Stakes showdown. She got away fifth at the 29 2/5 opening quarter and moved up on the outside into third at the 57 1/5 half. She trotted around Gotta Believe (Andy Miller) to take command after that marker, kept clear to the 1:25 three-quarters and through the lane, and hit the wire a length and three-quarters to the good over Splash Blue Chip (Svanstedt). Gotta Believe got third.

Trainer Noel Daley also co-owns Anoka Hanover, a daughter of Donato Hanover, with L.A. Express Stable LLC. and Caviart Farms. Anoka Hanover, who was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms Inc., was taken out of the 2019 Standardbred Horse Sale for $35,000 and now has six triumphs from ten trips behind the gate, in addition to stashing away $215,091. Anoka Hanover is the fifth foal out of the Yankee Glide mare Aunt Mel (1:54, $280,332), and paid $3.60 to win as the 4-5 favorite.

You Ato Dream (Jeff Gregory) had already finished second in six stakes tries so far in her rookie campaign, and unfortunately that became seven in the final $76,750 International Stallion Stakes section as Iteration (Sears) chased her down late to win in 1:53 3/5. You Ato Dream got to the front just before the 56 4/5 half and kept the top spot to the 1:24 4/5 three-quarters and into the lane.

She dug in gamely to fend off pocket-sitter Presto (Svanstedt) when she came to the outside in the lane, but Iteration, who had tucked in fourth from post eight and then sat in, fanned out to the far outside in the stretch and used a powerful late kick to get up and win by a nostril over You Ato Dream. Pub Crawl (Andy Miller) was another head back in third.

Bred by Order By Stable, Iteration was grabbed for $250,000 at the 2019 Standardbred Horse Sale and is out of the unraced Muscle Massive mare Steamy Windows, making Iteration a full sister to Gimpanzee (1:50, $2,438,551). Like Gimpanzee, Iteration is trained by Marcus Melander, and Gimpanzee's co-owner Courant Inc. owns her solely. Iteration made her fifth appearance in the winner's circle from eight starts, has pocketed $307,009, and returned $15.60 to win.