Austin Hanners and Aaron Merriman didn’t let the rain and sloppy track bother them as they each won a pair of Ohio Sires Stakes $100,000 Gray Championships Sunday night (Oct. 13) at MGM Northfield Park. Hanners won the 2-year-old colt pace and 3-year-old filly trot while Merriman captured the 2-year-old filly trot and the 3-year-old colt pace.
Author: by Frank Fraas, Interim Director of Marketing and Outreach, Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association
Two records set during Virginia Breeders eliminations at Shenandoah Downs
Kelsey Wagner’s Brooksforreal and Caviart Farms’ Caviart Glory established new track records in their respective Virginia Breeders 2-year-old elimination victories over the weekend at Shenandoah Downs as freshman competitors looked to punch their tickets to the $650,000 Champions Day card in two weeks.
Bit-O-Honor leads Winner’s Circle Speed Sale
Bit-O-Honor attracted a bid of $33,000 to lead the 61 yearlings who passed through the ring at the Winner’s Circle Speed Sale, held Thursday (Oct. 10) at the Michigan State University Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education.
Breeders Crown supplemental and entry box approaching
The entry box for supplements to the 3-year-old and older Breeders Crown races and for all eligible horses to declare in to the $7 million year-end championship events at Meadowlands Racetrack closes next week.
Cumberland Run’s opening card Sunday illustrates the upward trajectory of Kentucky harness racing
Cumberland Run’s opening card Sunday features 14 Kentucky Sires Stakes races for 2-year-old trotters and pacers. That the track had so many young Kentucky horses to fill the entire race program shows the resurgence of Kentucky’s Standardbred circuit.
Taking a chance on Sabonis pays off
John Miller considers himself “pretty lucky” when it comes to standout Indiana pacer Sabonis. Miller purchased Sabonis as a yearling for $9,000 at the 2022 Midwest Mixed Sale and has watched the colt develop into a multiple Grand Circuit winner and potential Breeders Crown participant in the two years since then. Owned by Miller’s wife, Pat, and trained by Aaron Stutzman, Sabonis has won 17 of 19 career races and earned $480,200 as he prepares for Friday’s $250,000 Indiana Sire Stakes championship for 3-year-old male pacers at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.
Twin B Joe Fresh leads Meadowlands qualifying winners
Live racing returned to The Meadowlands Thursday morning (Oct. 10) with 19 qualifying races. Twin B Joe Fresh has been a Grizzly all season and there was no letting up today as she smoked around the oval in 1:52, home in :26.4 in the Dexter Dunn grips while facing a considerable head wind.
Ragtime Red records her name in the record books
David Banks’ homebred Ragtime Red won her eighth straight race Wednesday night (Oct. 9), taking the $87,500 Thomas Cooke Memorial for 2-year-old filly pacers in the Maryland Sires Stakes program.
Chapter Seven’s 2025 stud fee announced
After another record-breaking year for his offspring on the track, Chapter Seven will stand at Blue Chip Farms in Wallkill, N.Y., for a fee of $40,000 in 2025.
Sowers scores in Monticello NAADA Trot
McKenzie Sowers grabbed the lead and rebuffed all incoming rivals to deliver as the 6-5 favorite in the $7,500 North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) Trot at Monticello Raceway on Wednesday (Oct. 9).