posted on 8/30/2012 10:30 am

The second and final preliminary round of Kentucky Sire Stakes (KYSS) for 3 year olds will be contested Saturday night, Sept. 1, at The Red Mile, with the outcomes putting in place the fields for the $250,000 finals scheduled for the Bluegrass State's Super Night on Sunday, Sept. 9.

While most of the KYSS attention Saturday will be focused on Adios winner Bolt The Duer in the glamour division of 3-year-old pacing colts, the most interesting horse of the night might be Shawnee Dancer, who was sold following her opening-round KYSS win and will race for the first time out of the barn of the sport's leading trainer, Ron Burke. Shawnee Dancer will start from post six in the second of two $15,000 KYSS divisions for 3-year-old filly pacers with Kyle Bolon named to drive.

Shawnee Dancer won her opening KYSS split on Aug. 23 with a 1:52.4 effort, just one-fifth off her previous mark set the week earlier in a conditioned race at The Red Mile. The daughter of Jate Lobell was then sold by owners Judy Lunsford and Delbert Seat to the Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Howard Taylor.

Shawnee Dancer's pair of Red Mile wins are her only two trips to the winner's circle this year, bringing her career slate to 19-4-3-6 with earnings of $91,210. She took home the biggest check of her career ($62,500) when she finished second in last year's $250,000 KYSS final for 2-year-old filly pacers.

As for Bolt The Duer, he romped to an 8 ¼-length, 1:50.2 win in his opening KYSS division on Aug. 23, a full second slower than the 1:49.2 effort posted in the other split by North America Cup winner Thinking Out Loud. But while trainer Pete Foley has Bolt The Duer back in to go in the second round of KYSS, conditioner Bob McIntosh has decided to instead race Thinking Out Loud in a $38,000 Preferred Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack.

All 11 sophomore colt pacers entered in the KYSS at The Red Mile will line up in a single $30,000 division, with Bolt The Duer starting from post six with Mark MacDonald driving. The son of Ponder is owned by the Como family's All Star Racing and arrived in Kentucky fresh off a world-record 1:47.4f win in the $500,000 Adios final at The Meadows.

Also racing in a single $30,000 heat on Saturday are the 3-year-old filly trotters with the field including first-leg winners Gisela As and Northern Miss Hall. The starters also include opening round runners-up Gotcha Girl and Feel The Pressure, who are both co-owned by The Red Mile announcer and Kentucky Harness Horsemen's Association executive director Gabe Prewitt.

There will also be two KYSS divisions for 3-year-old colt trotters, with first-week winners Prayer Session and Say It's True drawing in together in the first split.

There are 15 races on Saturday night's card at The Red Mile, with first-race post time at 7 p.m.