Virgne’s Aprillady and Jack Kieninger Jr. were on a mission Saturday, Sept. 25 at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in Corydon. The duo led the field with authority en route to a new track record for sophomore trotting fillies.
Jack Kieninger Jr. returns to the winner’s circle at the Harrison County Fairgrounds after his track record performance with Virgne’s Aprillady Saturday, Sept. 24.
Starting from post two, Virgne’s Aprillady trotted right out of the gate and was unbothered by breaking horses on both sides of her. The filly was on top by the first turn and went on to set early fractions of :31.0 and 1:03.4. At that point, she began to pick up the tempo and rallied out to a three-length lead at the three-quarters in 1:33.2 Around the final turn, Virgne’s Aprillady stretched out even longer in her stride, rallying home in :29.2 for the win in 2:02.4, beating the track record by a fifth of a second. Bucks Princetonian and Gerald Miller finished second over Diva’s Pretty Lady and Michael Detweiler.
Virgne’s Aprillady is a daughter of Pine Credit and was bred and raised by Jack and Jeri Kieninger at their farm in Rochester, Ind. She earned her third win of 2023 and picked up her career best time of 2:02.3 earlier this year at Converse on the Indiana Sired Fair Circuit. The previous track record at Corydon was set 13 years ago by Hoosier Joi in 2:03.0 with Charlie Conrad in the bike for owner-trainer Gene Hereford.
In the race before, Kieninger guided Lyndy’s Navigator to a second-place finish in the first division of three-year-old filly trotters. The Big Stick Lindy filly followed Edge of Rejoicing and Michael Detweiler around the track in the 2:06.1 mile, finished three-quarters of a length back off them to finish in second Jailhouse Garland and Gerald Miller finished third.
Lyndy’s Navigator is owned by Jeri and trained by Jack. Jeri also bred the trotter.
The track record setting performance by Virgne’s Aprillady capped off a big week for Kieninger, who won a race earlier in the week at Harrah’s Hoosier Park with Virgnes Kenny B in trotting action. Also a homebred by the Kieningers, the Mr Web Page five-year-old won in a new record time of 1:58.1.
Kieninger is a longtime horseman in Indiana. He served on the Indiana Standardbred Association board for more than a decade and led the board as president during a majority of that tenure. He has always had success with trotters and he and Jeri continue to breed and raise several yearlings each year that they prepare for racing in Indiana.