Grand Circuit in full swing this weekend

Harness Racing This Week: Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial, Saratoga Casino Hotel, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Spirit of Massachusetts and Clara Barton, Plainridge Park, Plainville, Mass; Tompkins-Geers, The Meadowlands, East Rutherford, N.J.; and Delvin Miller Adios eliminations, The Meadows, Washington, Pa.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit action begins on Saturday (July 20) as Saratoga will host the $250,000 Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial for older pacers.

Also on Saturday, the Meadows has a pair of $25,000 eliminations for the Delvin Miller Adios for 3-year-old male pacers.

And finally on Saturday, The Meadowlands features the $76,700 Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old male trotters and a trio of $30,800 divisions in the Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old filly trotters.

On Sunday (July 21), Plainridge has the $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts for older trotters and the $100,000 Clara Barton for older pacing mares.

Complete entries for the races can be found by clicking on this link.

Last Time: Legendary Hanover (Huntsville-Lillian Hanover) took the lead at the half-mile point of Saturday’s (July 13) $650,000 Meadowlands Pace and dominated from there, drawing away in the stretch for a stakes-record 1:46.3 victory in the 48th edition of the one-mile event for 3-year-old pacers at The Meadowlands.

Legendary Hanover’s stablemate Nijinsky, the 6-5 favorite, finished second, his first loss in seven races this year. Gem Quality was third. The margin of victory was 5-1/2 lengths.

The previous stakes record of 1:46.4 was set in 2014 by He’s Watching.

Legendary Hanover, the 2-1 second choice, was fifth as the field reached the opening quarter in :26.2, but on top in a :53.2 half after a big move on the backstretch with driver James MacDonald. He reached three-quarters in 1:20.2 and was unthreatened the rest of the way as he won for the fourth time in seven starts this season for trainer Anthony Beaton.

MacDonald admitted the race didn’t develop the way he imagined prior to heading onto the track.

“It was exactly what I didn’t want to do before the race, but he’s a big, strong horse and sometimes he likes to drag me around the track. That’s kind of what he came up with tonight,” MacDonald said. “I know he’s got the gears to do it. The second he cleared, it wasn’t like, oh, this is too much. It was like he was going to jog. He’s a good horse.

“I wanted to give him a shot, try to put him in position to win. Even if you’ve got to overdrive a little bit, that’s just how it goes in these big races. You don’t want to be at the back saying ‘what if.’ I’m just so proud of the horse, so proud of Tony. I’m just thrilled.”

Legendary Hanover has won 10 of 16 career races and earned $710,959 for owners Eric Good, West Wins Stable, and Mark Dumain. He was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.

“I’ve said from day one that Legendary is a phenomenal animal,” Beaton said. “Nijinsky is a phenomenal animal. There were others, too, in there. I’m just glad that James took the shot when he did, and the horse did the rest.”

Legendary Hanover paid $6.00 to win.

​​Complete recaps of all the races are available at the Grand Circuit website. For a list of 2024 race winners on the Grand Circuit, click here.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2024, 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 2024 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders (through the races on 7-13-24):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 414; 2. Yannick Gingras – 388.5; 3. Scott Zeron – 208; 4. Tim Tetrick – 207; 5. James MacDonald – 199.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 329; 2. Ake Svanstedt – 239; 3. Nancy Takter – 198; 4. Travis Alexander – 182; 5. Anthony Beaton – 159.

Owners: 1. Burke Racing Stable – 80.6; 2. Weaver Bruscemi – 63.7; 3. Guy Corbeil – 57; 4. West Wins Stable – 53.2; 5. Caviart Farms – 50.3.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place next week at The Meadows and The Meadowlands. The Meadows has the final for the Delvin Miller Adios for 3-year-old male pacers, along with the Adioo Volo for 3-year-old filly pacers and Arden Downs events for 2-year-old colt and filly pacers and trotters and 3-year-old colt and filly trotters. The Meadowlands has eliminations for the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks for sophomores; Tompkins-Geers races for 3-year-old colt and filly pacers; and a leg of the Miss Versatility for trotting mares.

by Paul Ramlow, for The Grand Circuit