Huge Grand Circuit weekend at Red Mile, Dayton

Harness racing this week: Bluegrass Stakes, Red Mile, Lexington, Ky., and Dayton Derbies, Hollywood Dayton Raceway, Dayton, Ohio.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit action kicks off on Thursday (Sept. 29) at the Red Mile and the Lexington oval will feature three divisions in the $328,000 Bluegrass for 2-year-old colt trotters and two divisions in the $283,000 Bluegrass for 2-year-old filly pacers. On Friday (Sept. 30), Red Mile will offer three divisions in the $354,000 Bluegrass for 2-year-old filly trotters and three divisions in the $327,000 Bluegrass for 2-year-old colt pacers. The first week of racing in Lexington will conclude on Saturday (Oct. 1) with three divisions in the $242,300 Bluegrass for 3-year-old filly trotters, two divisions in the $237,000 Bluegrass for 3-year-old colt trotters, two divisions in the $178,000 Bluegrass for 3-year-old colt pacers, and a single $150,000 division in the Bluegrass for 3-year-old filly pacers.

Hollywood Dayton Raceway on Saturday night (Oct. 1) will feature four Grand Circuit stakes in the $250,000 Dayton Pacing Derby for older pacers, the $250,000 Dayton Trotting Derby for older trotters, the $250,000 Dayton Oaks Derby for older female trotters and the $250,000 Dayton Distaff Derby for older female pacers.

Complete entries for the races are available at this link.

Last time: Oh Well (Muscle Hill) strolled to a sparkling score in Saturday’s (Sept. 24) C$1 million Mohawk Million, at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

After breeding the first two Mohawk Million winners, Venerate in 2020, and Venerable in 2021, Hunterton Farm’s Steve and Cindy Stewart decided to purchase one of nine C$100,000 slots (the final slot goes to the winner of the William Wellwood Memorial) with a few partners for this year’s edition of the unique 2-year-old trotting event.

It proved to be a winning idea.

Dw’s Point Man was on-point early, blasting from post eight to take the early lead, as Oh Look Magic couldn’t find a seat and sat second, while Hasty Bid and Oh Well were next in line through an opening panel of :27.3.

Oh Look Magic, still traveling on the outside, took the lead away from a stubborn Dw’s Point Man, as Oh Well, with Tim Tetrick in the race bike, popped out and set sail for the front after a half reached in :56.1.

Sent on his way as the 3-5 choice, Oh Well, on top by a head after three-quarters in 1:24.4, braced for the bid of a hard-charging Winner’s Bet, who had begun to circle his way into contention before making a break and leaving his rival an open-length leader with the finish line drawing ever closer.

At the wire, Oh Well, trained by Marcus Melander, and owned by S R F Stable, was a 2-1/2 length victor in a stakes record-equaling 1:53.4. Silly Me Hanover, at 42-1, was second. Proud To Be Lindy, 96-1, was third, and 60-1 Hasty Bid was fourth.

“I just had to be careful on the rail, you just don’t want to get pinned, and then not get out,” said Tetrick, of his rail post. “I don’t think the size of the track even bothers him at all. He’s a big strong colt, he’s great gaited, and mainly just keep him focused because he’ll look at butterflies if you let him. He’s got a big engine, he never gets tired, and he’s a really nice colt.”

Fashioning a record of 4-2-0 from six starts, Oh Well, a son of Muscle Hill-Fine Tuned Lady, was a $530,000 purchase at the 2021 Standardbred Horse Sale.

“Right from the start, he was a beautiful colt,” praised Melander. “He cost a lot of money. If you buy a high-price yearling, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be good. He’s covered a lot of ground and he’s a great horse.”

A horse that delivered Hunterton, the largest Standardbred farm in the world that does not stand stallions, with another memorable Mohawk Million moment.

It’s a good bet one of Standardbred racing’s most successful breeding operations, based in Paris, Ky., will be back for a shot at a Mohawk Million grand slam in 2023.

“I think that it was more of an opportunity for us to give back to the race and we have benefited tremendously, the guys and us that had the mares and bred the horses,” said Stewart. “It’s a great opportunity. I think it’s a wonderful race. It’s really important I think to have a race like this for the breeders to have.”

Oh Well paid $3.40 for his Mohawk Million win.

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 9-24-22):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 993; 2. Tim Tetrick – 748; 3. Yannick Gingras – 746; 4. Todd McCarthy – 539; 5. David Miller – 472.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 617; 2. Tony Alagna – 532; 3. Ake Svanstedt – 414; 4. Nancy Takter – 333; 5. Nifty Norman – 321.

Owners: 1. David McDuffee – 173.4; 2. Caviart Farms – 140.2; 3. Schooner II Stable – 140; 4. Brad Grant – 131.5; 5. Courant Inc. – 124.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will be taking place next week at Lexington’s historic Red Mile. Featured at Red Mile will be the Kentucky Futurity, the third leg of Trotting’s Triple Crown for 3-year-olds. Also on tap will be the companion Kentucky Filly Futurity for the sophomore fillies, the Tattersalls Pace and the Glen Garnsey Memorial for 3-year-old pacers, four International Stallion Stakes races for 2-year-olds of both sexes and gaits, and four Allerage contests for open pacers and trotters.

For complete Friday Red Mile entries, click here.

For complete Saturday Red Mile entries, click here.

For complete Saturday Dayton entries, click here.

by Paul Ramlow, for The Grand Circuit