Red Mile: Kentucky Sires Stakes double for Gingras

The Kentucky Sires Stakes season for 3-year-old pacers kicked off on Wednesday morning at The Red Mile with one $40,000 non-wagering race for each sex. These events were supposed to have taken place on Tuesday afternoon but were moved when that card was cancelled due to heavy rain that left the track in an unraceable condition.

In the test for fillies, High Minded (Todd McCarthy) and Classicist (Dexter Dunn) battled for early command, with Classicist taking over before the 27 second opening quarter. Blue Diamond Eyes (Yannick Gingras) then rolled to the outside from third in the backstretch, and she would land on the lead after the 54 3/5 half. On the last turn, Blue Diamond Eyes came under attack from a first-over Single Girl (Randy Jerrell), but she was able to fend that foe off to the 1:22 4/5 three-quarters, then kicked away in a 27 1/5 final panel to win by a pair of lengths. Classicist was next, followed by High Minded.

Blue Diamond Eyes, last year's Kentucky Sires Stakes champion, is trained by Ron Burke for owner Thomas and Scott Dillon. This was her eighth career victory, and the Brittany Farms-bred daughter of Captaintreacherous has now earned $761,664.

The section for colts and geldings saw Toronto (David Miller) work his way to the top before the 27 3/5 quarter, but he would yield to Exploit (Dunn), who then released Goldie's Legacy (Gingras) heading to the 54 2/5 half-mile marker. From there, Goldie's Legacy reached three-quarters in 1:22 2/5 before he used a 26 4/5 last quarter to seal a 2 1/2 length victory in 1:49 1/5. Komodo Beach (McCarthy) got up for second after tipping first-over from fifth on the far turn, and Exploit wound up third.

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Trainer Jeff Cullipher also co-owns Goldie's Legacy, an Always A Virgin gelding bred by Dave Yoder, with Pollack Racing LLC. Goldie's Legacy has compiled a record of 6-1-1 from 25 lifetime starts, and he has now banked $96,985.