Jailbird Jog seeking redemption in Kentucky Championship Series

LEXINGTON, Ky.— After a gut-wrenching wait from a fourth-place harness racing finish in the first Hambletonian Oaks elimination to miss the cutoff for the $500,000 final on lifetime earnings, TheStable.ca’s darling Tactical Landing filly Jailbird Jog ships to The Red Mile to regain her groove in the first of two $80,000 divisions of the Kentucky Championship Series on Sunday night (Aug. 9).

Jailbird Jog, who sparkled in the Bluegrass State earlier this year with a 7-3/4-length romp to win the $300,000 Oak Grove Trotting Oaks, starts from post 6 as the 6-5 morning line favorite with Anthony MacDonald driving in the opening division, carded as Race 6 on the 17-race card. The daughter of Miss Don Fanucci S – a half-sister to Elitlopp champ Don Fanucci Zet – faces seven other rivals including another pair exiting defeats in the Hambletonian Oaks eliminations in Ygritte (driven by Dexter Dunn, post 2, 9/2 morning line) and Victorianas Secret (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., post 3, 7/2).

The second split for 3-year-old trotting fillies, scheduled as Race 10, is led by Avenzee (Tim Tetrick, post 4, 5/2), who won the $80,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes (KYSS) final at Oak Grove back on July 14 with a lifetime-best 1:52.4 mile. She’s joined in the eight-horse contest by Naked And Famous (Todd McCarthy, post 5, 9/2), who is looking to regain her groove after a fast start to the season with a track-record 1:51.2 mile in the Oak Grove Trotting Oaks eliminations. Country Glide (Andy McCarthy, post 8, 10-1), who won the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final for 2-year-old trotting fillies last season, also competes.

Sunday’s busy card at The Red Mile, which is preceded by a make-up non-wagering program starting at 3 p.m. (EDT), also features the $80,000 opening preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings, carded as Race 5. Bookie J (Dexter Dunn, post 9, 2-1) earns morning-line favoritism exiting an eighth-place finish in the $810,000 Meadowlands Pace final while Sea Bistro Hanover (Todd McCarthy, post 2, 9/2), who equaled the Oak Grove all-age track record in the $80,000 KYSS final and most recently finished runner-up to Meadowlands Pace champ Brandon Blvd in the $54,150 Tompkins-Geers in his last start, also drops into the box.

The Monday (Aug. 10) card at The Red Mile is headlined by a single $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series division for 3-year-old trotting males and 3-year-old pacing fillies. Oak Grove KYSS champ Zephyr Kemp (Dexter Dunn, post 2, 2-1) heads the nine-horse contest for the trotting glamour boys, carded as Race 5, that also lures Grade 2 Goodtimes winner Neighver Punt (Doug McNair, post 6, 7/2) as well as Matt Burkholder’s pair of Silverstein (David Miller, post 4, 6-1) and Requiem (Andy McCarthy, post 8, 8-1). Hope Hill (Dexter Dunn, post 3, 3-1), winning the Oak Grove KYSS final in a track-record 1:48.3, faces Miss Jim Jabber (Andy McCarthy, post 5, 2-1), the only filly to beat Loua Dipa this season, in a stacked field of 10 for the sophomore pacing filly dash, scheduled as Race 11.

Freshman pacing colts and geldings will compete in the $80,000 second preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series in the headline event on the Tuesday (Aug. 11) card, slated as Race 8. Gobstopper (Tim Tetrick, post 8) looks for back-to-back wins in the series off a 1:53.1 stroll in the opening round over Midwind Buxton (Todd McCarthy, post 4) and Hold Fast (Atlee Bender, post 9). The race week then wraps with the $80,000 second preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series for 2-year-old trotting males on Wednesday (Aug. 12), carded as Race 5 on the 16-race program. Top Reacher (Mattias Melander, post 5), who pulled a 24-1 upset in the opening round, will try to again foil his regally bred stablemate Command Center (Dexter Dunn, post 2), who bobbled off stride as the 1-2 favorite in the first leg and was disqualified from second to third for a lapped-on break.

First-race post time at The Red Mile on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. with a single non-wagering division of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series for 3-year-old trotting fillies scheduled for 4:45 p.m., just after the make-up session of racing. Racing begins on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 1 p.m.

For more information on the 2026 live harness racing season, visit The Red Mile website (https://www.redmileracing.com).

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting entries

by Ray Cotolo, for the Meadowlands