Big race elims featured in Grand Circuit

This Week: Delvin Miller Adios, Adioo Volo, and Arden Downs, The Meadows, Washington, Pa. and Hambletonian eliminations, Hambletonian Oaks eliminations, Tompkins-Geers, Kindergarten Series leg and Miss Versatility leg, The Meadowlands, East Rutherford, N.J.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit week kicks off on Friday (July 28) at The Meadows with three $20,000 divisions of the Arden Downs for 2-year-old colt trotters and a pair of $20,000 Arden Downs divisions for 2-year-old filly trotters.

The big Saturday (July 29) card at The Meadows features the $350,000 Delvin Miller Adios for 3-year-old male pacers. Also on the card will be the $114,770 Adioo Volo for 3-year-old filly pacers, two divisions of the $40,696 Arden Downs for 2-year-old male pacers, two divisions in the $42,496 Arden Downs for 2-year-old filly pacers, two divisions in the $44,654 Arden Downs for 3-year-old male trotters and a single $34,505 Arden Downs division for 3-year-old filly trotters.

Grand Circuit action at The Meadowlands begins on Friday with three $20,000 divisions in the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-old colt pacers and 2-year-old colt trotters and two $20,000 divisions in the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-old filly pacers and 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 elimination for 3-year-old filly trotters, two divisions in the $66,900 Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old male pacers, two divisions in the $63,700 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: Idealsomemagic A (American Ideal) and George Brennan pulled off a 27-1 upset in the $250,000 Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace on Saturday (July 22) at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

The 14th annual Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace featured two former winners of the season’s biggest race at the Spa. Tattoo Artist and This Is The Plan won the two previous installments of the Gerrity and drew into much different spots in this year’s $250,000 pace.

The Chris Ryder-trained Tattoo Artist, the 2022 Gerrity winner, drew post three as he looked to repeat against the top-flight competition. This Is The Plan drew post seven and subsequently went off as one of the bigger longshots in the race.

Tattoo Artist wound up heavily backed by the betting public, going off at odds of 2-5 in what wound up being a wire-to-wire attempt.

Jason Bartlett sat behind Tattoo Artist as he paced through first half fractions of :27 and :55.3 before asking the favorite to kick away around the final turn. All the while, longshot Idealsomemagic A, a 9-year-old, followed the cover of a fellow Yonkers invader and although the trip got the best of his cover, Idealsomemagic A continued to progress steadily as the field came to the top of the stretch.

Tattoo Artist briefly scampered away from pocket-sitter Hellabablou (Joe Bongiorno) late in the game but just when it appeared that the favorite was about to pull off the repeat, Idealsomemagic A shifted gears and powered up and past the leader to prevail by a neck.

Idealsomemagic A, who is owned by VIP Internet Stable and Stratton Stable Inc. and trained by Cory Stratton, became the biggest longshot to prevail in the 14 years of the Gerrity, scoring at odds of 27-1. The veteran pacer picked a good time to post a career-best effort as he stopped the timer in 1:50 behind perfect George Brennan piloting. Tattoo Artist finished second on Saturday while Hellabalou earned the show spot.

With the win, Brennan and Stratton, incredibly, become the 14th different driver and trainer, respectively, to record victories in Gerrity history.

Complete recaps of all the races are available at the Grand Circuit website. For a list of 2023 race winners on the Grand Circuit, click here.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2023, 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 2023 Grand Circuit awards.

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

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 429; 2. Yannick Gingras – 347; 3. Scott Zeron – 326; 4. Tim Tetrick – 269; 5. Jordan Stratton – 229.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 376; 2. Ake Svanstedt – 347; 3. Linda Toscano – 215; 4. Marcus Melander – 172; 5. Nancy Takter – 164.

Owners: 1. Diamond Creek Racing – 101.7; 2. Mark Ford – 98; 3. Jorgen Sparredal Inc. – 81.3; 4. Ken Jacobs – 80.5; 5. Burke Racing Stable – 68.6.

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. Also on the Aug. 5 card will be the Cane Pace, the second leg of Pacing’s Triple Crown for 3-year-olds. A total of eight Grand Circuit stakes will be on that card at The Big M.

by Paul Ramlow, for the Grand Circuit