by Paul Ramlow, publicity director, The Grand Circuit

This Week: Jim Ewart Memorial and Chip Noble Memorial, Scioto Downs, Columbus, Ohio; Kindergarten Series, The Red Mile, Lexington, Ky.; W.N. Reynolds Memorial, Tioga Downs, Nichols, N.Y.; Champlain Stakes and Simcoe Stakes and Maple Leaf Trot, Canadian Trotting Classic, Elegantimage, William Wellwood Memorial and Peaceful Way eliminations, Mohawk Racetrack, Campbellville, Ontario.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit action kicks off on Thursday (Sept. 10) at Tioga Downs with a single $64,788 division in the W.N. Reynolds Memorial for 2-year-old colt pacers and two divisions in the $63,788 W.N. Reynolds Memorial for 2-year-old filly pacers.

Also on Thursday, The Red Mile will host two $10,000 divisions in the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-old filly trotters and two $10,000 divisions in the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-old colt trotters.

Grand Circuit action at Mohawk kicks off on Thursday with a trio of C$30,000 eliminations in the Peaceful Way for 2-year-old filly trotters. The Friday (Sept. 11) card features a pair of C$35,000 eliminations in the Elegantimage for 3-year-old filly trotters and two C$30,000 eliminations in the William Wellwood Memorial for 2-year-old colt trotters. The big Saturday (Sept. 12) card is highlighted by the C$241,380 Champlain Stakes for 2-year-old filly pacers, two divisions in the C$233,313 Champlain Stakes for 2-year-old colt pacers, and the C$224,907 Simcoe Stakes for 3-year-old colt pacers, along with two C$40,000 eliminations in both the Maple Leaf Trot for older trotters and the Canadian Trotting Classic for 3-year-old open trotters.

Also on Saturday, Scioto Downs will host the $225,000 (est.) Jim Ewart Memorial for older pacers and the $100,000 (est.) Chip Noble Memorial for older trotters.

Complete entries for the races at the U.S. tracks are available at this link. Entries for the Mohawk races are available at this link.

Last time: “Habitat has fled the scene,” said Yonkers Raceway announcer John Hernan, by way of introducing the 61st winner of the Yonkers Trot for 3-year-old colts and geldings, conducted this past Saturday evening at Yonkers Raceway. The race is the second leg in the Trotting Triple Crown.

Mike Lizzi photo

Habitat (Brian Sears) was a 1:54.4 winner in the Yonkers Trot.

The win came in 1:54.4 by 3-1/2 lengths with Brian Sears in the bike. The winner is trained by Ron Burke and owned by Burke Racing Stable, Our Horse Cents Stables and Weaver Bruscemi. It was the seventh win in 14 starts this year for the son of Conway Hall-Habit’s Best. His $250,000 share of the purse pushed him to $570,434 in 2015 winnings and $1,104,841 in career earnings.

Sears has now won both of the first two legs of the Trotting Triple Crown, the Hambletonian with Pinkman and now the Yonkers Trot with Habitat.

After the race, Trond Smedshammer, driver/trainer of Buen Camino, who crossed the wire fifth, filed an objection against Yannick Gingras, driving Pinkman, for causing interference at the head of the stretch.

The objection was sustained, and while the winner, Habitat, was unaffected, the official second place finisher became Southwind Mozart (Daniel Dube), moved up from third and the official third place finisher became Buen Camino (Smedshammer) moved up from fifth. Pinkman was disqualified from second to fifth, as was his stablemate French Laundry, who crossed the wire fourth, but was set back to sixth.

There were three horses fanned out across the track in the last stride of the $500,000 Messenger Stakes for 3-year-old pacing colts and geldings, also on Saturday at Yonkers Raceway, but Revenge Shark (Yannick Gingras) won the second leg of the Pacing Triple Crown. Dude’s The Man (Corey Callahan) was second and In The Arsenal (Brian Sears) third.

The win, by a nose, came in 1:53.1 for the Cam’s Card Shark-Western Top Cat colt trained by Tony Alagna for owners Alagna Racing and Bradley Grant. It was his fourth win in 17 starts this year and puts his career earnings at $425,107.

State Treasurer added to his dream season this past Saturday night with a 1:47.4 victory in the Canadian Pacing Derby at Mohawk Racetrack.

Driven by Randy Waples, State Treasurer showed his grit and determination to secure the lead at the half and pulled away through wicked fractions to win the historic $513,750 Canadian Pacing Derby. Shamballa used his impressive closing-speed to come from last to finish second. Limelight Beach finished third, while JK Endofanera held on for fourth to round out the superfecta.

Just a $6,500 purchase as a yearling, State Treasurer is in the midst of a career best season with more than $760,000 earned in 2015. Owned by Sally MacDonald and Paul MacDonald, State Treasurer now has 29 career victories and increased his earnings to nearly $1.7 million.

Complete recaps of all the races are available at the Grand Circuit website.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2015, 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 Farm is the sponsor for the 2015 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following the past week’s action:

Drivers: 1. Yannick Gingras – 809; 2. David Miller – 516.5; 3. Tim Tetrick – 495; 4. Brian Sears – 422; 5. Corey Callahan – 352.5.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 1,054; 2. Jimmy Takter – 707; 3. Jeff Bamond Jr. – 300; 4. Tony Alagna – 285.5; 5. Erv Miller – 214.

Owners: 1. Burke Racing – 247.6; 2. Bamond Racing – 235; 3. Weaver Bruscemi – 221.9; 4. George Teague Jr. Inc. – 140; 5. Christina Takter – 125.

Looking ahead: A busy schedule of Grand Circuit racing will be taking place next week at Mohawk, The Meadows and The Red Mile. Mohawk will host the finals in the Maple Leaf Trot, the Canadian Trotting Classic, the Elegantimage, the Peaceful Way and the William Wellwood Memorial, plus eliminations in the Milton for older pacing mares. The Meadows will host the Nadia Lobell for 3-year-old filly pacers and The Red Mile will card another leg of the Kindergarten Series for freshman trotters.