Red Mile: Treacherous Reign rules in Bluegrass for sophomore pacing fillies

Treacherous Reign showed no ill effects from going two heats in the Jugette last Wednesday, posting a first-over and 1:49 4/5 victory in the $163,100 Bluegrass for 3-year-old filly pacers on Saturday afternoon at The Red Mile.

Kentucky Sire Stakes champion Beautyonthebeach (Doug McNair) took the overflow field of 11 to the opening quarter in 26 2/5, but race favorite Tall Drink Hanover (Andrew McCarthy) pressed on on the outside and took over command past that marker. Tall Drink Hanover would go on to hit the half in 54 1/5, with fellow Tony Alagna trainee Treacherous Reign (Dexter Dunn) going first-up from fourth just past that point.

Tall Drink Hanover was able to maintain the lead to the 1:22 1/5 three-quarters, but Treacherous Reign got to within a length of her at that point, and then overtook her in the lane. Beautyonthebeach escaped from the pocket and had a chance to chase down Treacherous Reign, but she was unable to do so, with Dunn guiding his filly home to a one length decision. Queen Of The Pride (Brian Sears) angled out late from the three-hole and had a lot of pace finishing, rallying for third.

"A lot of people forget that she did win the Fan Hanover, defeating Warrawee Ubeaut. Of course, Warrawee Ubeaut has gotten better over the course of the year, but this is a very nice filly in her own right," said Alagna. "The other filly, Tall Drink Hanover, got used pretty good to get to the front, but she definitely didn't look like she was on her game today. Not to take anything away from this filly, she came first-over the hard way at the half and got the job done. We scoped her right after going two heats, and when she came back here she was fresh and she was eating well. It just worked out.

"We'll see how she comes out of it. We have to limit her starts a little bit; that's what we ran into trouble with last year. We overraced her a little bit towards the end of the year. She wasn't herself in the Breeders Crown, and we want to make sure she's on her game for that."

Alagna trains Treacherous Reign, a daughter of Captaintreacherous, for the ownership group of Alagna Racing LLC., Big Als Stables, Let It Ride Stables Inc., and Dana Parham. This was her 11th career victory, and she has now earned $686,187. She was sent off at 5-1 and paid $12.20 to win.

"She cost me a lot more than that (her $50,000 yearling price at the 2017 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale). I didn't get into her until after her second start, but I thought she was well worth it. Any time I see a well-bred filly I'm hooked, just pleased to be with her," said Eric Cherry from Let It Ride Stables Inc. Had my doubts when she was first-over today because that hasn't been her forte, but she surprised me, and it was a great outcome. I'm thrilled to death. It never gets old."