Northfield and Mohawk head Grand Circuit this weekend

Harness Racing This Week: Battle of Lake Erie and MGM Buckeye Distaff, MGM Northfield Park, Northfield, Ohio, and North America Cup, Fan Hanover, Armbro Flight, Goodtimes, and Roses Are Red eliminations, Woodbine Mohawk Park, Milton, Ontario.

Schedule of events: The $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie for older open pacers and $50,000 MGM Buckeye Distaff for top veteran Ohio-sired pacing mares will take place at MGM Northfield Park on Saturday (June 10).

Grand Circuit action will also take place on both Friday (June 9) and Saturday (June 10) at Woodbine Mohawk Park. On Friday, Mohawk will host a pair of C$35,000 Roses Are Red eliminations for older pacing mares and two C$30,000 Goodtimes eliminations for 3-year-old open trotters. Then on Saturday, a big card of Grand Circuit racing will be led by four C$50,000 eliminations in the North America Cup for 3-year-old pacing colts, along with two C$35,000 eliminations in the Fan Hanover for 3-year-old pacing fillies and two C$35,000 eliminations in the Armbro Flight for older trotting mares.

Entries for the Northfield races can be found by clicking on this link. Entries for the Mohawk Park races can be found by clicking on this link.

Last Time: On a card where many glamour boys got their tightening miles ahead of the C$1 million Pepsi North America Cup, older horses sparred in their own stakes as Woodbine Mohawk Park hosted the kickoff to the Graduate Series on Saturday (June 3).

Jiggy Jog S (Walner) jetted around the Campbellville oval in the lone $73,815 opening preliminary of the Graduate Series Trot, uncorking a 1:50.3 mile under wraps on her seasonal bow.

Sent off as the 3-10 favorite from post two, Jiggy Jog S (Dexter Dunn) sprinted off the wings and barreled slightly off the pegs through the first turn to land on the lead in :26.2 with Slay (Joe Bongiorno) sitting the pocket. No challengers marched against Jiggy Jog S, so the Ake Svanstedt trainee coasted past a :55.1 half and kept the tempo hot through the final turn to clock three-quarters in 1:22.4. The 4-year-old daughter of Walner straightened strongly and plowed down the lane to post a five length victory on idle. Pretender (Andy McCarthy) pushed first over through the final turn to snag second from Slay while Looks Like Moni (James MacDonald) settled for fourth.

Dunn, the regular pilot of Jiggy Jog S through her sophomore campaign, guided the Jorgen Sparredal Inc.-owned mare to her 11th victory from 25 starts and padded her bankroll to $1,164,701.

“She got off the gate real good; nothing else really came — that was a pretty hot first quarter anyway,” said Dunn. “She wandered around a little on the front like she can do, but I asked her at the top of the stretch and she kicked really good. She just sort of cruise controlled the last eighth of the mile.

“She had such an incredible year last year. She’s come back — first time I’ve sat behind her (this year) — but her rear end’s gotten a lot bigger and stronger. She could be in for hopefully another good year.”

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 6-3-23):

Drivers: 1. Yannick Gingras – 144; 2. Jordan Stratton – 122; 3. Scott Zeron – 112; 4. Dexter Dunn – 100; 5. Matt Kakaley – 90.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 132; 2. Jeff Gillis – 102; 3. Linda Toscano – 100; 4. Ake Svanstedt – 87; 5. Tony Alagna – 56.

Owners: 1. Mark Ford – 98; 2. Jesmeral Stable – 42; 3. Robert Di Nozzi – 39; 4. 1362313 Ontario Ltd. – 37; 5. Team Tritton Inc. – 32.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place next week at Woodbine Mohawk Park, The Meadowlands and The Meadows. Mohawk will have the finals of the Pepsi North America Cup (3-year-old male pacers), Fan Hanover (3-year-old filly pacers), Goodtimes (3-year-old male trotters), Armbro Flight (older trotting mares) and Roses Are Red (older pacing mares); The Meadowlands will host the second leg of the Graduate Series for 4-year-old pacers and trotters; and The Meadows will feature the Currier & Ives for 3-year-old open trotters.

by Paul Ramlow, for The Grand Circuit