Red Mile: Ubrute dethrones Brandon Blvd in Kentucky Championship Series

Coming into Tuesday, Brandon Blvd had garnered all the attention thus far in the Kentucky Championship Series for 2-year-old male pacers at The Red Mile, and rightly so as he had gone three-for-three. However, he was defeated in the fourth $80,000 leg by Ubrute, the first foal out of world champion Warrawee Ubeaut (1:48 3/5, $1,849,063).

Driven by Yannick Gingras, Ubrute showed speed from post four and yielded to sit in the pocket behind Brandon Blvd (Tim Tetrick) after the 28 1/5 quarter. From there Brandon Blvd kept control through a 56 3/5 half and a 1:24 2/5 three-quarters, but Gingras wheeled Ubrute to the outside in the stretch, and he went by Brandon Blvd after a brief tussle en route to the victory by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:50 1/5. Funky Buddha (Todd McCarthy) could never mount a serious threat from first-over but did wind up third.

Ron Burke trains Ubrute, a colt by Tall Dark Stranger, for co-owner/breeder Burke Racing Stable LLC., co-owner/breeder Phil Collura and their partners Weaver Bruscemi LLC. and Hatfield Stables. Ubrute has a summary of 1-1-1 from four tries, has pocketed $69,600 and paid $8.28 to win.

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Winning two $30,000 Kentcky Commonwealth Series divisions were:

--Thiago Hanover (by Tall Dark Stranger and bred by Hanover Shoe Farms, paid $5.52 to win) in 1:50 4/5 for Gingras, Burke and owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Larry Karr, Knox Services Inc. and Beasty LLC.;

--Drink To That (by Tall Dark Stranger and bred by co-owners Alagna Racing LLC and Riverview Racing LLC. with Marvin Katz, paid $13.16 to win) in 1:51 2/5 for driver Scott Zeron, trainer Tony Alagna and co-owners Steven Head, Pryde Stable and Caviart Farms.

There were also three $15,000 Kentucky Golden Rod Series splits that went to:

--Benny B Hill (by Captaintreacherous and bred by Kountry Lane Standardbred LLC., paid $4.30 to win) in 1:53 2/5 for driver David Miller, trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. and owner Tom Hill;

--Sea Bistro Hanover (by Captaintreacherous and bred by Brittany Farms LLC., paid $25.12 to win) in 1:52 for driver Todd McCarthy, trainer Brett Pelling and owners David McDuffee, Paul Bordogna and Mel Hartman;

--Down The Line (by Captain Crunch and bred by owner Fiddler's Creek Stables LLC., paid $18.52 to win) in 1:52 3/5 for driver Tim Tetrick and trainer Travis Alexander.