Commonwealth Finals set for Monday at The Red Mile

Alongside the Kentucky Championship through the last month, freshmen and sophomores of each sex and gait competed in a total of four preliminaries for the Kentucky Commonwealth Series. And on Monday (Sept. 20), the remaining six $50,000 finals will go to the gate at The Red Mile.

Sophomore trotting fillies open the card with Nancy Takter pupil Altar landing the outermost post in the six-horse contest. Winning in three of the four preliminaries by a combined 25 lengths, Altar bears a speed badge of 1:50.4 taken in the last preliminary on Sept. 7. Dexter Dunn pilots the even-money choice in a field including Princessa, a Bob Stewart trainee with Andrew McCarthy in the bike who was the only one in the series so far to beat Altar. She starts from post four.

Notorious Pink returns south following an eighth-place finish in the $335,750 Fan Hanover final to start as the 5-2 favorite on the morning line in the sophomore pacing filly final. Todd McCarthy sticks with the Tony Alagna trainee who – prior to her stint north of the border – posted back-to-back 1:49.1 victories in the Kentucky Commonwealth Series. She has post four and was McCarthy’s choice over In Lou Of Money, a 1:49.4 winner in the final prelim for trainer Robert Cleary who will now have David Miller in the bike from post two.

The 10-race finale card to the Kentucky-bred series gets underway with first-race post time at 1 p.m. (EDT).