Big Grand Circuit action at Meadows, Meadowlands

Harness Racing This Week: Delvin Miller Adios, Adioo Volo, and Arden Downs, The Meadows, Washington, Pa. and Hambletonian, Hambletonian Oaks, Peter Haughton and Jim Doherty eliminations, Tompkins-Geers, and Miss Versatility leg, The Meadowlands, East Rutherford, N.J.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit week kicks off on Friday (July 29) at The Meadows with two $20,000 divisions of the Arden Downs for both 2-year-old colt trotters and 2-year-old filly trotters.

The big Saturday (July 30) card at The Meadows features the $350,000 Delvin Miller Adios for 3-year-old male pacers. Also on the card will be the $102,355 Adioo Volo for 3-year-old filly pacers, three divisions in the $60,400 Arden Downs for 2-year-old male pacers and single divisions in the $35,160 Arden Downs for 2-year-old filly pacers, the $35,698 Arden Downs for 3-year-old male trotters and the $32,323 Arden Downs for 3-year-old filly trotters.

Grand Circuit action at The Meadowlands also begins on Friday with single $20,000 eliminations in the Peter Haughton Memorial for 2-year-old male trotters and the Jim Doherty Memorial for 2-year-old filly trotters.

On Saturday, The Meadowlands has a pair of $100,000 Hambletonian eliminations for 3-year-old open trotters, two $40,000 Hambletonian Oaks eliminations for 3-year-old filly trotters, the $61,800 Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old male pacers, the $52,400 Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old filly pacers and a $40,000 leg of the Miss Versatility for older trotting mares.

Complete entries for the races can be found by clicking on this link.

Last Time: The 13th annual Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace featured an incredible stretch drive on Saturday (July 23) at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Like most years, the race looked to be pretty wide open on paper with no clear-cut favorite emerging. Trainer Ron Burke had two participants taking part in the $250,000 richest race of the season at the Spa and was looking to be the first trainer to win the Gerrity on more than one occasion.

His defending champ This Is The Plan (Yannick Gingras) started from post two while stablemate Workin Ona Mystery (Tim Tetrick) drew the rail while looking to hold off, among others, the favored Linedrive Hanover (Brian Sears) as well as Tattoo Artist (Hes Watching, Wally Hennessey) who was the second choice in the wagering in Saturday’s big race.

Workin Ona Mystery cut the mile in the Gerrity and rattled off first half fractions of :26.4 and :54.3 before dealing with a wide move from Linedrive Hanover who spent the duration of the mile parked out. This Is The Plan got the pocket trip behind his stablemate Workin Ona Mystery while speedy threat Tattoo Artist saved ground before finding room up the passing lane in the stretch.

It was Tattoo Artist who surged in the final strides to get by his rivals and secure the victory in 1:50.1, the fastest clocking for any horse this season at Saratoga. Workin Ona Mystery was a strong second while Linedrive Hanover had to settle for third. This Is The Plan, last year’s winner of the Gerrity, completed the superfecta.

Tattoo Artist is trained by Chris Ryder for owners Frank Cannon, Let It Ride Stables and Diamond Creek Racing. With the earnings from his Saturday score in the Gerrity, the 5-year-old has piled up $395,973 in the ’22 campaign and just shy of $1.35 million in his career.

Complete recaps of all the races are available at the Grand Circuit website. For a list of 2022 race winners on the Grand Circuit, click here.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2022, the Grand Circuit leaders in three categories (driver, trainer and owner) will once again be tracked on a points system (20-10-5 for the top three finishers in divisions/finals and 10-5-2 for the top three finishers in eliminations/legs). Winbak Farms is the sponsor for the 2022 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders (through the races on 7-23-22):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 512; 2. Tim Tetrick – 349; 3. Yannick Gingras – 313; 4. David Miller – 281; 5. Todd McCarthy – 276.

Trainers: 1. Tony Alagna – 284; 2. Ake Svanstedt – 267; 3. Ron Burke – 264; 4. Nifty Norman – 207; 5. Brett Pelling – 187.

Owners: 1. David McDuffee – 101.4; 2. Schooner II Stable – 70; 3. Jesmeral Stable – 67; 4. Fiddler’s Creek Stables – 64.5; 5. Brad Grant – 61.3.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place next week at The Meadowlands, led by the finals in the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks for sophomores and the Peter Haughton and Jim Doherty for freshmen. Also on the Aug. 6 card will be the Cane Pace, the second leg of Pacing’s Triple Crown for 3-year-olds. A total of 10 Grand Circuit stakes will be on that card at The Big M.

by Paul Ramlow, for the Grand Circuit