No elims for Dexter Cup, all eight in final

Eight horses were entered for the Dexter Cup, the first Grand Circuit event of the season for 3-year-old male harness racing trotters, making eliminations unnecessary this Saturday at Freehold Raceway. All eight horses advance directly to the Dexter Cup final, which will go for a purse of $150,505, on May 7 at the half-mile track in central New Jersey.

The eight horses entered today were, in alphabetical order: Bar Coins, Brave By Design, Grizzly Bare, Justice, Paymaq, Pour Mea Double, Pretender, and T Rex Blue Chip.

Brave By Design, Grizzly Bare, Justice, Pour Mea Double, and Pretender are eligible to the $1 million Hambletonian Stakes on Aug. 6 at The Meadowlands.

Pretender was a winner on the Grand Circuit last year, capturing a division of the Kindergarten Classic Series, and finished third in the Valley Victory Stakes for trainer Nancy Takter. He won his 2022 debut on April 15 at Freehold.

Justice, trained by Ake Svanstedt, was a three-time winner in divisions of last year’s New York Sire Stakes series and finished fifth in the final.

Lucas Wallin’s Pour Mea Double won three races in 2021, all conditioned events, beating older foes twice. Brave By Design, from the stable of Jennifer Bongiorno, finished second in last year’s New Jersey Sire Stakes Standardbred Development Fund final at Freehold.

Grizzly Bare, trained by Ron Burke, made his seasonal debut April 22 with a fifth-place finish in a 3-year-old conditioned trot and will be seeking his first career win in the Dexter Cup.

The draw for the Dexter Cup will be May 4.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA