Zweig, Graduate & M’lands Pace head Grand Circuit

Harness Racing This Week:  Zweig Memorial open and filly, Vernon Downs, Vernon, N.Y.; and Graduate Series finals and Meadowlands Pace eliminations, The Meadowlands, East Rutherford, N.J.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit weekend kicks off on Saturday (July 9) at Vernon Downs with the $310,000 Zweig Memorial for 3-year-old open trotters and the $123,000 Zweig Filly for 3-year-old filly trotters. There will also be a $53,410 consolation for the open trot and a $25,620 consolation for the filly trot.

Grand Circuit racing also takes place at The Meadowlands on Saturday with $250,000 Graduate Series finals for 4-year-old open pacers and trotters, $125,000 Graduate Series finals for 4-year-old female pacers and trotters, and a pair of $50,000 Meadowlands Pace eliminations for 3-year-old open pacers.

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

Last Time: Joviality S (Chaper Seven-Pasithea Face S) became the first filly since Continentalvictory in 1996 to win Yonkers Raceway’s MGM Yonkers Trot, taking the $280,904 final and the first leg of the Trotting Triple Crown for 3-year-olds on Friday night (July 1) in 1:53.1 to equal the track record for her division.

Driver Brian Sears had Joviality S ready to leave from post seven, and she fired right to the top, carving out fractions of :27.3, :56.4, and 1:24.4 while pursued by pocket-sitter Double Deceiver (David Miller). Those two faced off in a match race through the lane, and although Double Deceiver made some late headway, it wasn’t enough, as Joviality S tallied by a length and matched Plunge Blue Chip’s track record established back in 2018. Pour Mea Double (Dexter Dunn) got up for third.

“She’s just so handy out on the track and lets me do anything that I want. It makes my job so much easier. She has so much talent, gets over the ground so easy, and just has a great gait to her,” said Sears. “I let her roll along a little bit tonight. She felt really good getting over the track. I called on her a little bit down the lane, and she picked it up like she usually does.”

With one notch in the Trotting Triple Crown now secured, the question will be if Joviality S opts to go in the Hambletonian or Hambletonian Oaks, but Sears noted she could have some additional racing to do before that.

“I really haven’t talked to Marcus (trainer Marcus Melander) about it. Maybe we’ll get a sire stake or two in between now and Hambletonian Day or we’ll just take it from there. We’d still like to race her in New York and keep her tight,” remarked Sears.

Melander trains Joviality S for owner Courant Inc., whose AM Bloodstock Inc. bred the filly. Joviality S has won all five of her starts in 2022, has a record of 14-2-0 from 17 lifetime tries, and has now banked $1,205,818. She paid $2.40 to win as the favorite.

The 4-year-old Shadow Play-BJ’s Squall stallion Bulldog Hanover proved himself the top dog in the older pacing ranks by doing most of the work on the front to clock a stakes record and track- and world record-equaling 1:46 mile in the $99,500 second of two divisions for the Roll With Joe on Saturday (July 2) at The Meadowlands.

Allywag Hanover hustled for the lead to a :26.2 first quarter while Bulldog Hanover, scratching into the pylon post, settled for the pocket. But driver Dexter Dunn had plenty of pull in his hands up the backside and soon circled Bulldog Hanover for the lead before a :53.4 half.

From there, the field gave futile pursuit as he clicked three-quarters in 1:20.2 and cruised home to best Allywag Hanover by 1-3/4 lengths with the next-closest finisher, Abuckabett Hanover, well behind in third.

“(Dexter) was sort of speechless,” trainer Noel Daley said after the race. “Jack (Darling) said the same thing, that (Bulldog Hanover) was pretty special; it’s just so easy. (Dexter) said it took a half-mile to pull him up tonight, too.”

Noel Daley oversees the Jack Darling-developed pupil, whom Darling co-owns through his Jack Darling Stables Ltd. with Brad Grant, during his residency in New Jersey. In taking his 19th win from 27 starts, not only did he elevate his account to $919,520, but he also became just the third horse in harness racing history to post a 1:46 mile. Always B Miki became the first at The Red Mile in 2016 and Lather Up the second at The Meadowlands in 2019.

“We take no credit — we got him 48 hours before his first start,” Daley said. “We’re just checking him over, that’s it; we’ve done nothing with him. He hardly trains, but they don’t need to when they go that quick.”

Bulldog Hanover, off at 1-5, returned $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 7-2-22):

Drivers: 1. Dexter Dunn – 337; 2. Tim Tetrick – 248; 3. Yannick Gingras – 214; 4. Todd McCarthy – 182; 5. Jordan Stratton – 171.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 224; 2. Ake Svanstedt – 192; 3. Tony Alagna – 155; 4. Brett Pelling – 137; 5. Nifty Norman – 117.

Owners: 1. Jesmeral Stable – 67; 2. Mark Ford – 60; 3. The OK Corral – 57; 4. David McDuffee – 52.6; 5. Hot Lead Farm – 50.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place next week at The Meadowlands and Yonkers Raceway. The Meadowlands will feature the Meadowlands Pace final for 3-year-olds, the Haughton Memorial for older pacers, the Hambletonian Maturity for 4-year-old trotters, the Stanley Dancer Memorial for 3-year-old male trotters, the Delvin Miller Memorial for 3-year-old filly trotters, the Mistletoe Shalee for 3-year-old filly pacers, the Dorothy Haughton Memorial for older pacing mares, and a leg of the Miss Versatility for older trotting mares on a big July 16 card. The Big M will also host the opening leg of the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-olds of both sexes and gaits. Yonkers will have the MGM Springfield Stakes for 2-year-old male pacers.

by Paul Ramlow, for the Grand Circuit