Four major Grand Circuit stops 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 22), 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 a pair of divisions in the $88,000 Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old male trotters and a pair of divisions in the $83,300 Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old filly trotters.

On Sunday (July 23), 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: Tim Tetrick needed only a few words to sum up Confederate’s win in Saturday’s (July 15) $668,000 Meadowlands Pace.

“That was a ride there,” Tetrick said after Confederate, the 1-2 favorite, covered the final quarter-mile in :25.4 to capture The Meadowlands’ signature race for 3-year-old pacers by 3-1/2 lengths over longshot Hungry Angel Boy in 1:47. Christchurch finished third.

The winning time was just one-fifth of a second off the stakes record set in 2014 by He’s Watching, and the margin of victory the largest since Well Said won the Pace by six lengths in 2009.

Confederate’s win extended trainer Brett Pelling’s record for Meadowlands Pace trophies to five and pushed Tetrick’s total to six, just one behind John Campbell’s record for drivers.

Confederate settled into fourth place early in the race as Christchurch took the field to the opening quarter in :26.2 and half in :54.3. Tetrick put Confederate in motion just as the leader hit the midpoint, coming first-over and drawing even with Christchurch at three-quarters in 1:21.1.

From there, it was all Confederate.

“It kind of went the way I thought I was going to have to do it,” Tetrick said. “I was afraid I was going to have to be first up, and that’s the way it went, but I got to sit quite a way, and I was happy with that.

“That was a ride there. He dragged me around there. It was awesome.”

Confederate is owned by Diamond Creek Racing. The son of Sweet Lou-Geothermal was bred by Diamond Creek Farm.

“I think we were hoping for a performance like that,” Diamond Creek’s Adam Bowden said. “Timmy delivered, Brett delivered, it was great.”

For his career, Confederate has won nine of 12 races and earned just shy of $1 million. This year, he has four victories in five starts, with his lone setback a second-place finish by a head in last month’s Pepsi North America Cup at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Confederate paid $3 to win.

​​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 7-15-23):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 394; 2. Scott Zeron – 311; 3. Yannick Gingras – 295; 4. Tim Tetrick – 264; 5. Jordan Stratton – 229.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 309; 2. Ake Svanstedt – 307; 3. Linda Toscano – 205; 4. Marcus Melander – 167; 5. Nancy Takter – 154.

Owners: 1. Mark Ford – 98; 2. Diamond Creek Racing – 84.2; 3. Jorgen Sparredal Inc. – 81.3; 4. Burke Racing Stable – 61.8; 5. Team Tritton Inc. – 52.

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 sophomore trotters; Tompkins-Geers races for 3-year-old colt and filly pacers; and legs of the Miss Versatility for trotting mares and the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-olds of both sexes and gaits.

by Paul Ramlow, for The Grand Circuit