Grand Circuit stakes on Saturday at The Meadowlands
July 10, 2015,from the Meadowlands Media Relations Department
East Rutherford, NJ — A stakes laden Saturday night (July 11) card signals the return to the kind of racing that makes The Meadowlands great. With but five weeks left in the 2015 summer live racing season at The Big M, the Grand Circuit is here to stay through Hambletonian Day (Aug. 8).
First post is 5:30 p.m. both Friday and Saturday for this week.
No fewer than half of the 14 Saturday races are stakes. Leading the way is a pair of eliminations for next week’s Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace. The division’s top sophomores are in for the $50,000 Pace eliminations.
The first split comes in race six, featuring 2014 Dan Patch Award winning freshman and dual New Jersey Sires Stakes champ Artspeak versus the 2015 Art Rooney Pace winner In The Arsenal. North America Cup winner Wakizashi Hanover and Hempt Memorial winner Wiggle It Jiggleit will tee it up once again in the 11th race. Adding intrigue is new shooter Roland N Rock and his unbeaten record, emerging from the Midwest seeking East Coast cred and a piece of the $700,000 final purse.
Fans are invited to join the online conversation leading up to the Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace by using #Pace15 on social media.
The Mistletoe Shalee drew 13 3-year-old filly pacers, which led to the top three 2015 earners (Bettor Be Steppin, Sassa Hanover and The Show Returns) accepting byes into the $200,000 final, leaving ten to battle for the remaining seven berths. They are a solid, well matched group and offer a great betting race as the 12th on the bill.
The richest event of the evening is the $250,000 Graduate Trotting Final. This race concludes the inaugural season of the million dollar, four-race sequence designed to transition 4-year-old trotters and pacers into the open ranks.
The Graduate final pits trotting’s newest star JL Cruze against last season’s heavyweights, Trotter/3-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year Shake It Cerry (who endeavors to strike a blow for feminism) and the 3-Year-Old Trotting Colt of 2014, Father Patrick.
The story of JL Cruze is truly a David and Goliath tale. While his chief foes were making national headlines last season, his lot was a laborious grind through the lower-end races of the New York Sires Stakes program. Sold to his Delaware connections for a modest sum at auction last fall, he dominated the Winter Series program at The Meadowlands and continues to successfully ascend the ranks. It sets up to be a fascinating race.
The $62,000 W.N. Reynolds Memorial for sophomore trotting colts (race seven) drew a bulky single division of 11 led by last year’s Breeders Crown runner-up Muscle Diamond who returns to the Hambletonian trail after a two month hiatus.
The Reynolds trotting fillies split and will go as races two and four, each for around $30,000.
On the wagering front, one of the two Super Hi-5 Jackpot carryovers was cashed in last week. A Jackpot opportunity now remains in only the evening’s last race; the pool currently stands at $175,601.
The fifth race will continue to offer a Super Hi-Five each night, but there will be no jackpot carryover pool. The pool will pay out each and every night and it will still carry an industry-low eight percent takeout rate. Both wagers are offered at the 20-cent minimum.
The early start (5:30 p.m.) is due to Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour at Met Life Stadium. The timing should allow for an easy, traffic free exit after the races are complete.
More info is always available by visiting The Meadowlands website.
- Pair of Meadowlands Pace eliminations on big Saturday card (Tuesday, July 07, 2015)
Entries were taken Monday (July 6) for several marquee events of The Meadowlands Grand Circuit season and there are a few details to go along with the draw.
- ‘Dude’ wants to be ‘The Man’ in Meadowlands Pace (Tuesday, July 07, 2015)
Doug Paul and Victoria Dickinson hope “Dude” is the man in the Meadowlands Pace. Paul and Dickinson are among the owners of Dude’s The Man, who was one of the 14 horses entered in Saturday’s Meadowlands Pace eliminations at Meadowlands Racetrack. The 3-year-old male pacer is Dickinson’s first race horse and is named after her Jack Russell terrier, Dude.
- Lightly raced Thirty X heads to Mistletoe Shalee elimination (Wednesday, July 08, 2015)
Trainer Richie Silverman might have the ‘X’ factor in Saturday’s Mistletoe Shalee elimination at Meadowlands Racetrack, if not the 3-year-old female pacing division as a whole. Silverman will send out Thirty X in the lone $25,000 elimination, from which the top seven finishers advance to the Mistletoe Shalee final on July 18 at the Big M.
- Campbell on JL Cruze and Roland N Rock (Thursday, July 09, 2015)
Driver John Campbell has seen trotter JL Cruze raise his game to a new level and now he will see if pacer Roland N Rock can do the same. JL Cruze and Roland N Rock both race Saturday at Meadowlands Racetrack. JL Cruze, who went from being unknown heading into this season to the No. 3-ranked horse in harness racing, faces eight rivals in the $250,000 Graduate Series final for 4-year-old trotters while Iowa invader Roland N Rock puts his perfect 18-for-18 career record on the line in the second of two eliminations for the Crawford Farms Meadowlands Pace.
- Muscle Diamond to make his return in Saturday’s Reynolds at Meadowlands (Friday, July 10, 2015)
He’s only competed once since May and that was a victory in a qualifying race on July 3, but Muscle Diamond, the runner-up to Pinkman in last year’s edition of the $500,000 Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot, is now fully prepared to commence his journey to the $1 million Hambletonian on Aug. 8 at the Meadowlands. His quest for a classic triumph begins Saturday (July 11) at that same facility in the $62,406 W.N. Reynolds Memorial for sophomore trotting males.