Grand Circuit action all at Mohawk Park

Harness Racing This Week: William Wellwood and Peaceful Way finals, Nassagaweya, Eternal Camnation, Casual Breeze and Canadian Pacing Derby eliminations, Woodbine Mohawk Park, Milton, Ont.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit racing will take place at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Friday (Aug. 26) and Saturday (Aug. 27).

The Friday program has a lone stake, the C$145,000 Casual Breeze for 3-year-old filly trotters. The lucrative Saturday card features the C$665,000 William Wellwood Memorial final for 2-year-old male trotters and the C$362,000 Peaceful Way final for 2-year-old filly trotters. Also on Saturday are two divisions in the C$256,300 Nassagaweya for 3-year-old male pacers, two divisions in the C$235,300 Eternal Camnation for 2-year-old filly pacers, and two C$40,000 eliminations in the Canadian Pacing Derby for older pacers.

Complete entries for the races are available at this link.

Last Time: Temporal Hanover got the lead prior to the opening quarter and stayed on top from there, winning Saturday’s (Aug. 20) $300,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters by one length over Pretender in 1:53. Pour Mea Double finished third and Hambletonian champ Cool Papa Bell was fourth despite making a break at the start.

Temporal Hanover, who was beaten by three-quarters of a length in finishing third in the Hambletonian final on Aug. 6 and by a head in his Hambo elimination a week earlier, took the field through fractions of :26.4, :56.3, and 1:24.4 to capture the Beal as the 4-5 favorite.

“He was used a little hard, but I figured I was going to try to steal as much as I could going to the half,” winning driver Brian Sears said. “He kicked home.

“This horse really deserves it. He’s been racing great all year. He’s won a couple big ones, and he deserves another.”

Temporal Hanover, trained by Marcus Melander, won the Dr. Harry M. Zweig Memorial Main Event on July 9 and has posted four wins, three seconds, and a third in eight starts this season. He was a multiple Grand Circuit winner last year.

“It worked out perfectly today,” Melander said. “It’s a little tough to go to the lead because there are some strong winds out there, so he did a good job.

“He’s a good horse, he’s an honest horse, and he’s been racing good all year. He was first over both the eliminations and final of the Hambletonian, so I thought he was going to have a good shot today.”

Temporal Hanover is owned by AMG Stable, Kenneth Kjellgren, Rick Wahlstedt, and Heights Stable. The colt, a son of Walner-Think Twice, was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms. For his career, he has won nine of 20 races and earned $766,291.

He paid $3.80 to 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 8-20-22):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 691; 2. Tim Tetrick – 586; 3. Yannick Gingras – 473; 4. Todd McCarthy – 462; 5. David Miller – 355.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 473; 2. Tony Alagna – 385; 3. Ake Svanstedt – 349; 4. Nifty Norman – 271; 5. Marcus Melander – 231.

Owners: 1. David McDuffee – 138.4; 2. Schooner II Stable – 120; 3. Courant Inc. – 114; 4. Burke Racing Stable – 90.1; 5. Brad Grant – 87.3.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will be taking place next week at Woodbine Mohawk Park and The Meadowlands. Mohawk Park will host the Maple Leaf Trot for older trotters, the Canadian Pacing Derby final for older pacers, and Simcoe Stakes for 3-year-old male and female trotters. The Meadowlands features the third leg of the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-olds of both sexes and gaits.

by Paul Ramlow, for the Grand Circuit