Grand Circuit action at Vernon and Mohawk Park

Harness Racing This Week: Zwieg Memorial, Vernon Downs, Vernon, N.Y. and Somebeachsomewhere, Simcoe, Nassagaweya, Eternal Camnation, and Champlain, Woodbine Mohawk Park, Milton, Ont.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit racing will take place at Vernon on Saturday (Aug. 28) with the $325,000 Zweig Memorial for 3-year-old open trotters and the $140,000 Zweig Memorial Filly for 3-year-old female trotters.
Woodbine Mohawk Park will feature Grand Circuit action on both Thursday (Aug. 26) and Saturday (Aug. 28).

The Thursday card features three divisions in the C$187,920 Champlain Stakes for 2-year-old colt trotters and two divisions in the C$171,950 Champlain Stakes for 2-year-old filly trotters.

On Saturday, Mohawk has two divisions in the C$279,600 Nassagaweya for 2-year-old colt pacers, two divisions in the C$227,300 Eternal Camnation for 2-year-old filly pacers, two divisions in the C$171,500 Somebeachsomewhere for 3-year-old colt pacers and a single C$169,550 Simcoe Stake for 3-year-old filly pacers.

Complete entries for the Vernon races are available at this link. Entries for the Woodbine Mohawk Park races are available at this link.

Last Time: Darlene Hanover scored an emotional win in Saturday’s (Aug. 21) $250,000 Delmonica Hanover Stakes for 3-year-old female trotters, winning by three lengths over Flawless Country in 1:51.4 at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. You Ato Dream finished third.

The victory came eight days after the passing of Hall of Famer Charlie Keller III, who was among the filly’s Yankeeland Partners ownership group.

Two races later, Captain Corey won the $300,000 Earl Beal Jr. Memorial for 3-year-old trotters in his first start since capturing the Hambletonian on Aug. 7. Captain Corey won by 1-3/4 lengths over stablemate Johan Palema in 1:51, with Take All Comers finishing third.

In the Delmonica Hanover, Darlene Hanover was fifth at the half-mile point before using a first-over march to eventually take the top spot from even-money favorite You Ato Dream in the stretch. Mazzarati had led to the quarter in :26.3 before You Ato Dream took over and set fractions of :55 and 1:23.4.

The final time was one-fifth of a second off the track record for a 3-year-old filly trotter.

Todd McCarthy drove Darlene Hanover for trainer/co-owner Brett Bittle, who is Keller’s nephew.

“This win obviously meant a lot today,” McCarthy said. “I’m sure we might have had a little bit of help from above. Brett is super to drive for. Full credit to him, he had the horse spot on today and made my job real easy.

“The way the race panned out, there were a couple moves (early) and I figured we’d be slowing down a little from the half, so it was a good time to pull her. She’s raced like that before. She’s got a lot of heart, that filly, and she showed it today.”

Darlene Hanover, a daughter of Chapter Seven out of Danielle Hanover, has won two of seven races this year and six of 15 in her career. She has earned $481,462. The filly was bred by Hanover Shoe Farms.
Sent off at 5-1, Darlene Hanover paid $13.00 to win.

In the Beal Memorial, Captain Corey sat behind an early duel for the front between Take All Comers and Johan Palema, with the latter leading to the first quarter in :26.4. From there, Captain Corey took over, reaching the half in :55.3 and three-quarters in 1:23.4 on his way to victory.

“It’s easy to drive when you drive a horse like him,” trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt said about Captain Corey. “He’s a really smart horse. I think that’s the reason good horses are good; they are smart. And they like to race.”

Captain Corey has won four of six races this year and nine of 13 in his career. He pushed his lifetime earnings to $1.06 million with his Beal triumph.

The colt is owned by S R F Stable, Knutsson Trotting Inc., Midnight Sun Partners Inc., and Ake Svanstedt Inc. The son of GoogoGaagaa-Luv U All was bred by Carter Duer. Captain Corey paid $2.10 to win as the 1-9 favorite.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2021, 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 2021 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders (through the races on 8-21-21):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 558; 2. Yannick Gingras – 520; 3. Tim Tetrick – 419; 4. David Miller – 412; 5. Andrew McCarthy – 389.5.
Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 693; 2. Nancy Takter – 356; 3. Tony Alagna – 320.5; 4. Ake Svanstedt – 277; 5. Marcus Melander – 258.
Owners: 1. Burke Racing Stable – 135.9; 2. Weaver Bruscemi – 124.7; 3. Courant Inc. – 117; 4. Black Horse Racing – 108.4; 5. Brad Grant – 100.2.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will be taking place next week at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Tioga Downs and The Meadowlands. Woodbine Mohawk Park will contest several stakes including the Canadian Pacing Derby for older pacers, the Maple Leaf Trot for older trotters, the Roses Are Red for older female pacers, and eliminations in the North America Cup for 3-year-old colt pacers, the Fan Hanover for 3-year-old female pacers, the Goodtimes for 3-year-old colt trotters, the Casual Breeze for 3-year-old filly trotters, the William Wellwood Memorial for 2-year-old colt trotters and the Peaceful Way for 2-year-old filly trotters.

Tioga will host the Reynolds Memorial for 2-year-olds of both sexes and gaits. The Meadowlands features the sixth leg of the Miss Versatility Series for older trotting mares.

by Paul Ramlow, for the Grand Circuit