Meadowlands Pace card heads Grand Circuit weekend

Harness Racing This Week: Meadowlands Pace final, William Haughton Memorial, Hambletonian Maturity, Stanley Dancer Memorial, Delvin Miller Memorial, Mistletoe Shalee, Dorothy Haughton Memorial, and Miss Versatility leg, The Meadowlands, East Rutherford, N.J. and MGM Springfield Stakes final, Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, N.Y.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit action will be held on Saturday (July 16) as The Meadowlands has multiple stakes led by the $600,000 Meadowlands Pace final for 3-year-olds. Also on the card will be the $500,000 William Haughton Memorial for older pacers, the $432,000 Hambletonian Maturity for 4-year-old trotters, two divisions in the $250,000 Stanley Dancer Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters, two divisions in the $200,000 Delvin Miller Memorial for 3-year-old filly trotters, the $150,000 Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old filly pacers, the $175,000 Dorothy Haughton Memorial for older pacing mares, and a $40,000 leg of the Miss Versatility for older trotting mares.

Also on Saturday, Yonkers Raceway will host the $100,000 MGM Springfield Stakes for 2-year-old colt pacers.

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

Last Time: Fresh from his world-record equaling mile in the Roll With Joe Stakes, Bulldog Hanover (Shadow Play) put in another powerhouse performance to post a 1:46.1 mile in taking the $250,000 Graduate Pace final on Saturday (July 9) at The Meadowlands.

Bulldog Hanover again moved to do his work on the lead, this time clearing to the top after a :26.2 first quarter. But up the backside Linedrive Hanover (Brian Sears) flushed first over and blitzed the speedy pacesetter into a :54.1 half.

To the far turn, Bulldog Hanover parked Linedrive Hanover and spun for home off three-quarters in 1:20.1, again throttling to another gear. The Shadow Play stallion held his speed to the beam to just miss his record mark by a fifth of a second while besting a fast-closing Rockyroad Hanover (Andrew McCarthy) by 1-1/2 lengths. Linedrive Hanover held third and Abuckabett Hanover (Tim Tetrick) took fourth.

“I knew there would be some leaving, but we just held our position there early,” driver Dexter Dunn said after the race. “We coasted to the front, the other ones took back, and he did all the rest. I was down in the end of the backstretch after the race trying to pull him up. I talked to Jody Jamieson, who drove him a lot back in Canada in his early career, and he just said he doesn’t get tired. And he’s right.”

The victory — the 20th in his career from 28 starts — propelled Bulldog Hanover’s earnings to $1,038,525. He competes for owners Brad Grant and his primary trainer Jack Darling, who has his star housed with conditioner Noel Daley during his New Jersey campaign, through his Jack Darling Stables Ltd. He paid $2.40 to win.

​​Complete recaps of all the races are available at the Grand Circuit website. For a list of 2022 race winners on the Grand Circuit, click here.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2022, 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 2022 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders (through the races on 7-9-22):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 427; 2. Tim Tetrick – 268; 3. Yannick Gingras – 244; 4. Todd McCarthy – 192; 5. David Miller – 186.

Trainers: 1. Ake Svanstedt – 247; 2. Ron Burke – 224; 3. Nifty Norman – 172; 4. Tony Alagna – 167; 5. Brett Pelling – 157.

Owners: 1. David McDuffee – 77.6; 2. Jesmeral Stable – 67; 3. Mark Ford – 60; 4. The OK Corral – 57; 5. Hot Lead Farm – 50.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place next week at Saratoga Harness, Plainridge Park, The Meadowlands and The Meadows. Saratoga will host the Joe Gerrity for older pacers, Plainridge has the Spirit of Massachusetts for older trotters and the Clara Barton for older pacing mares, The Meadowlands has the Tompkins-Geers for 3-year-old trotters and the Meadows has the eliminations for the Delvin Miller Adios for 3-year-old male pacers.

by Paul Ramlow, for the Grand Circuit