Red Mile: Stay Hungry, Thinkbig Dreambig match miles in Bluegrass flights

Stay Hungry and Thinkbig Dreambig both turned in 1:48 2/5 miles in claiming victory in the pair of Bluegrass races for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers on Sunday afternoon at The Red Mile.

Driven by Doug McNair and making his first appearance since being scratched out of the final of the Little Brown Jug, Stay Hungry settled into fifth in the first $91,000 section. Meanwhile, Ideal Feeling (Tim Tetrick) was the first leader, getting to the opening quarter in 27 3/5 before he gave way to Grand Teton (Andrew McCarthy). Grand Teton stayed in control through a 54 1/5 half and a 1:21 2/5 three-quarters, with American History (Yannick Gingras) and Stay Hungry moving into contention from first-up and second-over, respectively.

Grand Teton was determined through the lane and clung to a narrow lead, but Stay Hungry came with a three-wide rally through the stretch and got up for the win by a neck. Grand Teton did wind up second, with Bounding Dragon (Brett Miller) closing for third.

A Somebeachsomewhere colt, Stay Hungry is trained by Tony Alagna for owners Brad Grant and Irwin Samelman Estate. This was Stay Hungry's 12th career victory, and he has now earned $1,239,459. The 4-5 favorite, Stay Hungry returned $3.60 to win.

In the other $92,000 division, Thinkbig Dreambig (Gingras) stayed outside to gain control from Nutcracker Sweet (Jimmy Takter) beyond the 27 2/5 first quarter. After he got the lead, Thinkbig Dreambig zipped through a half in 54 2/5 and a three-quarters in 1:21 4/5 on his way to the win. Hayden Hanover (Andy Miller) came first-up, ducked into the pocket on the final turn, angled back out in the lane, and was second, three-parts of a length back, and Rush To Judgement (Tetrick) took third.

Takter trains Thinkbig Dreambig, a Bettor's Delight colt, for owners Brixton Medical Inc., John Fielding, Goran Anderberg, and Goran Falk. Unraced as a 2-year-old, Thinkbig Dreambig has won six times from 15 starts this year and has banked $450,537. Thinkbig Dreambig was the 3-5 choice and paid $3.20 to win.