by Keith Gisser, for Northfield Park

Northfield, OH — The United States Trotting Association sponsors the second Back To The Track weekend July 15-17 and Northfield Park is in the thick of the action.

On Friday (July 15), Northfield is part of a four-track, $25,000 guaranteed National Pick Four. You may recall that your humble scribe gave out the $1,800-plus winning ticket on last year’s National Pick Four, and has been asked by the USTA to again provide picks and analysis on the wager.

Admission and parking are free on Back To The Track Friday and there are numerous giveaways, including $1,500 in free Ohio Lottery tickets and a trip to the Little Brown Jug valued at $1,349. Various organizations, including the Standardbred Retirement and Harness Horse Youth Foundations, also will be distributing information.

The Battle is joined

The $100,000 Battle of Lake Erie is Saturday (July 23) and topping the list of nominees is Foiled Again, who was sixth in the most recent Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown Top 10 polll.

Foiled Again, who has won $2.49 million thus far in his career, is owned by Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and JJK Stables. Ron Burke trains Foiled Again, the 2009 Battle winner, who is a son of 2000 Battle champ Dragon Again.

Defending Battle champion Hypnotic Blue Chip, who is just shy of $1.5 million in career earnings, was also named to the race.

Other top nominees include millionaire Giddy Up Lucky; Vertical Horizon, who earned nearly $600,000 as a 3-year-old; All Tiger N, who has made most of his money racing in New Zealand; and Ohio-owned Trick Man.

A $10,000 mystery tote ticket giveaway is also on tap Battle Night.

I Garr-on-tee

The USTA would have loved to sign up the late Cajun raconteur Justin Wilson to promote its Strategic Wagering Initiative, which features guaranteed betting pools, or as Wilson would say, Garr-on-teed pools. The July 23 Battle of Lake Erie features a $30,000 guaranteed superfecta pool, and, as mentioned above, Northfield will participate in the $25,000 guaranteed National Pick Four on July 16 as part of Back To The Track.

Northfield also offers $10,000 Guaranteed Pick-4 pools every Monday and Wednesday. The Pick-4, on races 8-11, features a 14 percent takeout, the lowest in harness racing. You can get Pick-4 tips from your humble scribe at the Smokin’ with the Giss blog, or at the USTA’s Strategic Wagering website.

By the numbers

Sam Schillaci has joined Don McKirgan on the USTA $10,000,000 watch list. The two are each just a few thousand dollars short of the career earnings.

Dan Noble continues to lead the local driver standings with 211 wins, 75 more than second-place Ryan Stahl. Rounding out the top five are Kurt Sugg (119), Wyatt Irvine (108) and Aaron Merriman (102).

Dennis Millner continues to lead in the race to defend his training title, but the trainer to watch may be Greg Straub, who conditions horses owned by #2 pilot Ryan Stahl, among others. Straub has posted a gaudy .503 UTR “Batting Average” and a 36 percent win percentage, easily tops at the track.

Trotter Diehl’s Deal, currently owned by Anthony Patrino of Akron, and pacer Jenna’s Dream, who races for Franklin Phillips of Tallmadge, near Akron, are the top winning steeds at the Route Eight oval, with each visiting the winner’s circle eight times this year. Both are conditioned by Kevin Ehrhardt, who sits seventh in the trainer standings, but whose 22 percent winning percentage ties him for third place.

Off the track and in the grandstand, Robert Miller of Cleveland picked seven winners with a tie-breaking mutuel payoff of $56.60 to take the $500 first prize in the July 3, free-to-enter, $900 Churchill Downs Handicapping contest. Also picking seven winners were Kent’s Robert Ciccone ($55.20) and Solon’s Mark Genovese ($51.60). They took home $250 and $100, respectively, and qualified for the September 5 $5,000 Labor Day Final with Miller and $50 fourth-place earner Cliff Kowalczyk of Lakewood.