Dexter Dunn highlights $1.6m Grand Circuit night

Harness racing’s two highest ranked horses in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, No. 1 Twin B Joe Fresh (Roll With Joe) and No. 2 Jiggy Jog S (Walner), will be in action Saturday at Hollywood Dayton Raceway and, as usual, Dexter Dunn will have a great seat to watch them go.

Dunn drives and co-owns Twin B Joe Fresh, a 4-year-old mare who brings an eight-race win streak to the $250,000 Dayton Distaff Derby for older female pacers. He also drives Jiggy Jog S, a 5-year-old mare who brings a nine-race victory streak to the $250,000 Dayton Oaks for older female trotters.

The Distaff and Oaks are part of a stakes-loaded 14-race card that also includes the $250,000 Dayton Pacing Derby and $250,000 Dayton Trotting Derby, as well as eight Ohio Sire Stakes events for 2-year-olds. Racing begins at 6:30 p.m. (EDT).

Twin B Joe Fresh, trained by Chris Ryder, heads to the Dayton Distaff off a one-length win over Sylvia Hanover in 1:49.1 in the Milton Stakes on Sept. 14 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The daughter of Roll With Joe-Fresh Breeze has started nine times this year, with her only loss a second-place finish in a conditioned race against male rivals in her season debut.

In her start prior to the Milton, Twin B Joe Fresh won the Cleopatra Invitational at Eldorado Scioto Downs in a track-record 1:48.2. She also captured the Betsy Ross Invitational earlier this year at Harrah’s Philadelphia with a stakes- and track-record 1:48.2 effort.

“She’s been great,” said Dunn, who owns Twin B Joe Fresh with Ryder, Peter Trebotica, and Barry Spak. “She hasn’t done much wrong this year. She’s gotten a lot stronger finishing her races off. I’m really happy with her.”

Twin B Joe Fresh will leave from post three in the nine-horse Dayton Distaff field, which also includes millionaires Sylvia Hanover and Strong Poison (plus Prohibition Legal, who has topped $1 million in Canadian earnings).

For her career, Twin B Joe Fresh has hit the board in 34 of 36 career races, winning 27 and earning $1.93 million. She has been ranked No. 1 in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll for 11 consecutive weeks.

Jiggy Jog S, who is 5-for-5 this season, has been ranked no lower than No. 6 in the 15 weeks of this year’s poll. She has been No. 2 for three consecutive weeks. She enters the Dayton Oaks off a Sept. 7 win in the million-dollar MGM Yonkers International Trot, where she defeated Periculum by 3-1/2 lengths at the distance of 1-1/4 miles.

“She was awesome,” Dunn said. “She couldn’t have done it much easier. I know we got pretty good fractions, but she just felt awesome.”

A three-week layoff since the International Trot should not pose a problem for Jiggy Jog S, who is trained by Ake Svanstedt and accustomed to such a schedule. On Aug. 3, she won the John Cashman Memorial in a rainstorm at The Meadowlands in a stakes- and track-record 1:49.2 off a five-week respite. Only two female trotters in history, Manchego and Atlanta, have gone faster.

“She’s very athletic,” Dunn said. “It’s not like she needs a lot of racing to become fit. She’s pretty naturally fit, I think. That’s the way they train her.”

Jiggy Jog S, the 2023 Dan Patch Award winner for best older female trotter, has hit the board in 35 of 40 career races, winning 23 and earning $2.97 million. The daughter of Walner-Hot Mess Hanover is owned by Ake Svanstedt Inc., Steve Stewart, John Lengacher, and Hickory Hollow Stables.

Dunn and Jiggy Jog S will leave from post six in the nine-horse field, which also includes millionaires M-M’s Dream and Refined. Jiggy Jog S won last year’s edition of the Dayton Oaks, a victory that launched her current win streak.

In the Dayton Pacing Derby, Dunn will drive millionaire Abuckabett Hanover for trainer Andrew Harris. The 6-year-old stallion is coming off back-to-back second-place finishes, in the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby and Canadian Pacing Derby, by the total of a nose more than a quarter-length. His four victories in nine starts this year include the William R. Haughton Memorial and Dave Brower Memorial, both at The Meadowlands.

Dunn won the Pacing Derby in 2022 with Bulldog Hanover and in 2020 with Bettor’s Wish.

This year’s field includes Hoosier Park Pacing Derby winner Little Rocket Man, Canadian Pacing Derby winner It’s My Show, Dan Patch Stakes winner Dunkin’, and Sam McKee Memorial winner Rocknroll Runa A.

The field for the Dayton Trotting Derby includes returning champion Hillexotic, from the stable of trainer Todd Luther. Dunn will drive millionaire Logan Park for trainer Robert Fellows, marking his first time behind the 6-year-old gelding. Logan Park finished fourth in the International Trot and bounced back with a win in the open at Mohawk on Sept. 21.

Svanstedt-trained Southwind Tyrion, who won the Crawford Farms Open in 1:49.2 on June 29 at The Meadowlands, also is part of the nine-horse group, as is Ron Burke-trained It’s Academic, who captured the 2023 Dan Patch Award for best older male trotter.

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA