Undefeated Walner filly eyes another Kentucky Championship Series win

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Another busy week of Kentucky bred action at The Red Mile attracts top-class harness racing talent into the Bluegrass State including the Walner filly Wall Of Fame, who will put her unbeaten streak on the line as the 4-5 favorite in the $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series third preliminary for 2-year-old trotting fillies on Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 26).

Wall Of Fame leads the quintet competing in Wednesday’s feature, carded as Race 6, and lands the pylon post following a 1:52.2 victory in the second preliminary a week ago. Andy Miller drives the Julie Miller trainee, with nearly $200,000 banked already in her short career, against three of the four foes she trounced in the second leg: runner-up Heart Of Secret (driven by Yannick Gingras, post 2, 5-2 morning line), third-place finisher Fleur Delacour (Dexter Dunn, post 4, 6-1) and fourth-place finisher Sweetest Of All (Scott Zeron, post 5, 8-1).

The race week begins on Sunday night (Aug. 23) with a 14-race card headlined by the $80,000 third preliminary of the Kentucky Championship Series for 2-year-old pacing colts and geldings. Gobstopper (Tim Tetrick, post 5, 7-2), winner of the series’ first preliminary, looks to return to the winner’s circle following a fourth-place rally in the most recent leg, but will have to topple a group of five including second-prelim runner-up Seine (David Miller, post 4, 5-2), who is the morning line favorite, and second-prelim third-place finisher Blue Eyed Stranger (Yannick Gingras, post 6, 9-2).

Freshman trotting males fight in the highlight event of the Monday (Aug. 24) card, the $80,000 third preliminary of their Kentucky Championship Series. Marcus Melander pupil Command Center (Dexter Dunn, post 5, 2-1), a half-brother to 2026 Hambletonian champ Apex, looks for back-to-back wins in the series after staving off Captain Kenny J (Todd McCarthy, post 6, 3-1) in the second leg. Monday’s card also features a pair of $35,000 events of the Kentucky Sire Stakes second preliminary for 4-year-olds with Captain Arturovico (Dexter Dunn, post 3, 6-5) eying back-to-back wins in the series for pacing males and Three Times Bettor (Dexter Dunn, post 1) also looking for a second win in the series for pacing mares, which will be contested as a non-wagering race prior to the pari-mutuel card.

A contentious bunch of freshman pacing fillies renew their rivalry in the $80,000 Kentucky Championship Series third preliminary on Tuesday (Aug. 25). First-leg winner Banana Beach (Andy McCarthy, post 7, 9-2) looks to avenge her third-place finish in the second leg to Seaside Ubeaut (Dexter Dunn, post 8, 5-2) while My Taylors Swift (Ronnie Wrenn Jr., post 5, 7-2), finishing runner-up by a neck in both legs, aims to usurp that pair. She starts just inside of Oak Grove Kentucky Sire Stakes series winner Dame Frances (Atlee Bender, post 6, 6-1), who resurfaces from a defeat as the odds-on favorite in the first leg with a 1:54.2 qualifier at Harrah’s Hoosier Park on Aug. 19.

Tuesday’s card also features a pair of $35,000 second-leg divisions of Kentucky Sire Stakes for trotting 4-year-olds. R Dutchess (Tim Tetrick, post 2, 5-2) fronts the mare division as she ships west from a fifth-place rally in the Grade 2 Dr. John Steele Memorial on Hambletonian Day at The Meadowlands while Gimpanzee Dancer (Andy McCarthy, post 6, 4-5), who finished second in the series’ first leg to Go Dog Go, returns to Kentucky from a defeat in the $60,000 Vincennes Invitational behind world champion Bourbonista S on Hambletonian Day.

Each day of racing at The Red Mile also features $30,000 divisions of the Kentucky Commonwealth Series, $15,000 divisions of the Kentucky Golden Rod Series and $10,000 divisions of the Kentucky Wildcat Series. First-race post time on Sunday is 5:05 p.m. (EDT) and 1 p.m. for the remainder of the race week.

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

by Ray Cotolo, for The Red Mile