Draws held for $1.3 million Triple Crown Friday

The fields have been drawn for the finals of the $500,000 MGM Grand Messenger Stakes, the $500,000 MGM Yonkers Trot, the $150,000 Park MGM Pace, and the $150,000 New York New York Mile, which will all take place on Friday (July 2) at Yonkers Raceway. The Messenger and Yonkers Trot are the first two jewels of the trotting and pacing harness racing Triple Crown.

Elimination winners American Courage and Abuckabett Hanover are both outside in the MGM Grand Messenger, the first leg of the Triple Crown for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings, having landed posts six and eight, respectively. American Courage, a son of American Ideal, won his elimination in 1:50.4 for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Travis Alexander, and owner/breeder Fiddler’s Creek Stables LLC., while Abuckabett Hanover, a Betting Line colt, overcame some steering issues on the first and last turns to tally in 1:51.3 for driver Andrew McCarthy, trainer Tony Alagna, and owners Crawford Farms Racing, Alagna Racing LLC., Jablonsky Held Stable, and Barbara N. Wienick Stable.

Alagna and McCarthy will also team up with Ahundreddollarbill, who will leave from post six in the MGM Yonkers Trot, the opening leg of the Trotting Triple Crown for sophomore colts and geldings. Ahundreddollarbill, a gelding by Chapter Seven, won his elimination in a track record 1:54.2 for owners Crawford Farms Racing and James Crawford IV.

The other elimination victor, Johan Palema, has post three for driver Yannick Gingras, trainer Ake Svanstedt, and owner Bender Sweden Inc. Johan Palema, a Bar Hopping colt, topped stablemate Ambassador Hanover in a 1:54.1 mile last Friday and is one of three Svanstedt trainees in the final.

Heart Of Mine, a daughter of Roll With Joe, and Test Of Faith, by Art Major, both sport undefeated records in 2021 after winning their respective Park MGM Pace eliminations for 3-year-old fillies, and they had good luck in the draw for the final as well.

Heart Of Mine, a 1:54.2 elimination winner, got the pole position for driver Scott Zeron, trainer Linda Toscano, and owners The Bay’s Stable LLC., Radio Racing Stable, Fred Wallace, and Camelot Stable Inc., and Test Of Faith, who tallied in 1:52.1 in her elimination, will depart from post three for driver David Miller, trainer Brett Pelling, and owners Mel Segal, Kentuckiana Racing Stable, and Eddie Gran.

Mazzarati, a daughter of Cantab Hall, took the one elimination of the New York New York Mile for 3-year-old trotting fillies in 1:55.2 for driver Tim Tetrick, trainer Lucas Wallin, and owners Mazza Racing Stables LLC. and Stormi And Bruiser Stable, and she wound up with post seven for Friday night’s final. Two fillies, Iteration (post two) and Sweeping Rainbow (post five), took byes straight to the final.

The stakes events are races six through nine on Friday night’s program, which gets underway at 7:15 p.m. The full fields with listed drivers and trainers are as follows.

Race 6 – $150,000 New York New York Mile final
1-Presto (Yannick Gingras/Ake Svanstedt)
2-Iteration (Brian Sears/Marcus Melander)
3-Rebel Girl (Dexter Dunn/Nifty Norman)
4-Lindys Dollywood (Todd McCarthy/George Ducharme)
5-Sweeping Rainbow (David Miller/Joe Holloway)
6-Contested Hanover (Scott Zeron/George Ducharme)
7-Mazzarati (Tim Tetrick/Lucas Wallin)
8-Imhatra AM S (Brian Sears/Marcus Melander)
AE-May Karp (Andrew McCarthy/Lucas Wallin)

Race 7 – $150,000 Park MGM Pace final
1-Heart Of Mine (Scott Zeron/Linda Toscano)
2-Marsala Hanover (Scott Zeron/Linda Toscano)
3-Test Of Faith (David Miller/Brett Pelling)
4-Darby Hanover (Andy Miller/Julie Miller)
5-Classicist (Todd McCarthy/Tahnee Camilleri)
6-Shania Blue Chip (Dexter Dunn/Noel Daley)
7-So Irresistible (Andrew McCarthy/Bruce Saunders)
8-Lyons Softassilk (Tim Tetrick/Jim King Jr.)
AE-Lindy At The Beach (Todd McCarthy/Domenico Cecere)

Race 8 – $500,000 MGM Yonkers Trot final
1-Ambassador Hanover (Ake Svanstedt trains & drives)
2-On A Streak (Daniel Dube/Luc Blais)
3-Johan Palema (Yannick Gingras/Ake Svanstedt)
4-Mon Amour (Andy Miller/Ake Svanstedt)
5-Ethan T Hanover (Jason Bartlett/Per Engblom)
6-Ahundreddollarbill (Andrew McCarthy/Tony Alagna)
7-Arnold N Dicky (Dexter Dunn/Chuck Sylvester)
8-In Range (Tim Tetrick/Marcus Melander)
AE-Jula Muscle Pack (Scott Zeron/Per Engblom)

Race 9 – $500,000 MGM Grand Messenger final
1-Simon Says Hanover (Scott Zeron/Tony Alagna)
2-I’ll Drink To That (Dexter Dunn/Chris Ryder)
3-Charlie May (Brett Miller/Steve Carter)
4-Chase H Hanover (Brian Sears/Scott Cox)
5-Mysweetboymax (Jason Bartlett/Sam De Pinto)
6-American Courage (Matt Kakaley/Travis Alexander)
7-Highlandbeachsbest (Scott Zeron/Linda Toscano)
8-Abuckabett Hanover (Andrew McCarthy/Tony Alagna)
AE-Whichwaytothebeach (Todd McCarthy/Brett Pelling)

From Yonkers Raceway