Red Mile: Kentucky Futurity to be broadcast nationally Saturday on FS2
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The 134th edition of the $575,000 Grade 1 Kentucky Futurity, the final jewel of the Trotting Triple Crown, will receive national airtime on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 2) for the final race of the 13-race card.
Scheduled to go to post at 5:24 p.m. (EDT), the Kentucky Futurity will air on Fox Sports 2 (FS2) through coverage on the New York Racing Association’s show America’s Day at the Races. The Futurity will be showcased alongside other major horse racing events that afternoon including the Fall Turf Showcase at Woodbine Racetrack, headlined by the Grade 1 Canadian International, and the Saturday action from Belmont Park.
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Marcus Melander fronts the charge into the Futurity with six entrants in the 11-horse field led by 2026 Hambletonian winner Apex (driven by Dexter Dunn, post 7, 6-5 morning line), who meets with Hambletonian runner-up Big Ranger (Tim Tetrick, post 9, 9-5) for the first time since the August classic. Melander, seeking his second win in the Futurity after taking the 2019 edition with Greenshoe, will also send Nix Nacken (Bjorn Goop, post 1, 7-2), American Power (James MacDonald, post 2, 6-1), Neighver Punt (Orjan Kihlstrom, post 5, 15-1), Zephyr Kemp (Todd McCarthy, post 10, 15-1) and last year’s Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt Trot champ Spencer Hanover (Jason Bartlett, post 11, 15-1). Lucas Wallin, Melander’s brother-in-law and winner of the 2022 Futurity with Rebuff, will also look to up his score in the Futurity with Inexpressable (Scott Zeron, post 6, 6-1), the Grade 1 Yonkers Trot champ who enters from a 1:49 3/5 romp in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final.
Melander will also send the morning-line favorite and 2026 Hambletonian Oaks champ Nezuko Kamado S (Scott Zeron, post 8, 5-2), one of his three entrants, in the co-featured $300,000 61st edition of the Grade 1 Kentucky Filly Futurity. Nezuko Kamado S enters from a defeat to She’s Moni (Yannick Gingras, post 11, 7-2) in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final and faces several other fillies she bested in the Oaks including runner-up Carve (Andy McCarthy, post 6, 9-2), stablemate Setyoursightshigh (Dexter Dunn, post 10, 9-2), Madam Cheval (Tim Tetrick, post 3, 8-1), Custom (Jason Bartlett, post 4, 8-1), Frattina Diablo S (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., post 5, 12-1) and Leading Lady (Joe Bongiorno, post 9, 8-1). Melander also has Nuance (James MacDonald, post 2, 6-1), who ships south from a comfortable 1:51.1 victory in the Grade 1 Elegantimage at Woodbine Mohawk Park, in the field.
Pacing glamour boys spar on the undercard in a pair of $79,000 Grade 3 Bluegrass divisions. Brandon Blvd (Dexter Dunn, post 3, 4-5), the North American season leader among all Standardbreds in earnings, resurfaces in the second division fresh from a victory in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final while the first division sees the stateside return of Beau Jangles (James MacDonald, post 1, 3-1), the 2025 Horse of the Year across both borders who will face local star Sea Bistro Hanover (Todd McCarthy, post 8, 2-1) off a 1:49 3/5 tightener in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold division on Sept. 28 at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Sophomore pacing fillies will also compete in two divisions of the $151,000 Grade 3 Bluegrass. Brett Pelling’s sensational filly Miss Jum Jabber (Andy McCarthy, post 1, 4-5), with 13 wins this season from 15 starts including a victory in her most recent in the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final, headlines the second division on the card while Andrew Harris pupil Topville Lucky (Todd McCarthy, post 2, 2-1) tops the morning line in the opening division as she faces Kentucky Commonwealth Series runner-up Sunny Station (Todd McCarthy, post 3, 3-1) and Kentucky Golden Rod Series champ Need You Now (Dexter Dunn, post 4, 8-1).
Saturday’s card also features three guaranteed wagers. The 50-cent Pick 5, beginning in Race 3, has a guaranteed pool of $7,500 while the Early Pick 4, beginning in Race 6, has a guaranteed pool of $5,000 and the Late Pick 4, beginning in Race 10 and ending with the Kentucky Futurity, has a guaranteed pool of $10,000. Both the Pick 5 and the Pick 4 are offered at an industry low takeout of 12 percent.
First-race post time is 1 p.m. (EDT). For more information on the 2026 live harness racing season, visit The Red Mile website (https://www.redmileracing.com).
-edited release (Red Mile)