Red Mile: Kissin In The Sand romps again in Allerage Farms Open

Kissin In The Sand's recent dominance in the mare pace division continued on Sunday afternoon as she rolled to a facile 1:48 victory in the $72,000 Allerage Farms Fillies and Mares Open Pace at The Red Mile.

With Dexter Dunn at the lines, Kissin In The Sand moved up on the outside to take the lead away from Caviart Ally (Andrew McCarthy) after the 27 2/5 opening quarter. A 54 4/5 half and a 1:21 3/5 three-quarters followed that, and Kissin In The Sand slammed the door on the others with a 26 2/5 final panel to score by 4 1/2 lengths. Treacherous Reign (David Miller) closed from fourth to second in the last quarter, and Caviart Ally ended up third.

That 1:48 clocking was a track record for a mare pacer.

"She's probably my favorite, like ever, out of all the horses I've ever been associated with," said trainer Nancy Takter. "I think she likes the stretch and obviously it's a forgiving track. It's nice for the horses to come down here as opposed to racing on some of the stonedust tracks that are a little bit harder. She won both stakes here as a 2-year-old and she won them at 3. She's just a great mare."

Takter trains Kissin In The Sand, a 5-year-old mare by Somebeachsomewhere, for owners Marvin Katz and Bud Hatfield. Kissin In The Sand has a record of 24-11-6 from 55 career efforts, and she has now earned $1,506,594. She paid $2.60 to win as the 1-5 favorite.