This Week: Breeders Crown finals, Woodbine Mohawk Park, Milton, Ont.; Circle City and Madison County, Hoosier Park, Anderson, Ind.; and Kindergarten Series, The Meadowlands, East Rutherford, N.J.

Schedule of events: The 12 Breeders Crown championship events at Woodbine Mohawk Park will be front and center in the Grand Circuit spotlight this weekend. The four Breeders Crown championship races for 2-year-olds will be contested on Friday (Oct. 25) while the eight events for 3-year-olds and older Standardbreds will be contested on Saturday (Oct. 26).

On Friday Hoosier Park will host the Circle City for 3-year-old pacers and trotters and the Madison County for 2-year-old male pacers. A total of nine events will be raced on Friday. The Saturday Hoosier program will feature Madison County races for 2-year-old filly pacers and trotters of both sexes.

Also on Friday, The Meadowlands will offer the final preliminary leg of the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-old pacers and trotters. There will be a pair of $10,000 divisions in the filly pace and single $10,000 divisions for the filly trotters, colt trotters and colt pacers.

Complete entries for the Mohawk Park races are available at this link. Entries for the Hoosier Park and Meadowlands races are available at this link.

Last time: Breeders Crown eliminations were in the spotlight this past weekend at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Yannick Gingras drove Don’t Let’em to a 1:51.3 win in the 3-year-old colt trot elimination on Saturday night (Oct. 19).

Don’t Let’em cruised to a 1:51.3 score in his Breeders Crown elimination on Saturday night (Oct. 19). New Image Media photo.

A field of 10 competed with the top eight finishers advancing to this Saturday’s $600,000 final. Forbidden Trade and Greenshoe received byes to the final.

The Nancy Johansson-trained Don’t Let’em fired early for the lead and made the rest of the field chase him through fractions of :28.1, :56.4, and 1:24.2 and matched the track record for sophomore trotters with a 1:51.3 mile.

Green Manalishi S (Tim Tetrick) sat in second for three panels and Chin Chin Hall (Peter Wrenn) rolled along in third. Soul Strong (Dexter Dunn) came out to lead a second tier that stalled down the stretch. Chin Chin Hall took his best steps late to get second, with Green Manalishi S holding third, those three a few lengths ahead of the rest of the pack. Gimpanzee (David Miller) closed strongly to pick up fourth.

“They all left so slow out of the gate,” said Yannick Gingras. “I had to take him to the front.”

Don’t Let’em (Muscle Hill—Passageway) was bred by Brittany Farms, which co-owns with Christina Takter, John Fielding and Herb Liverman. His win price was $9.10.

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

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2019, 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 2019 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following this past weekend:

Drivers: 1. Tim Tetrick – 1,266.5; 2. Yannick Gingras – 1,118; 3. Dexter Dunn – 894; 4. David Miller – 845; 5. Andrew McCarthy – 678.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 1,142; 2. Tony Alagna – 725; 3 Ake Svanstedt – 582; 4. Marcus Melander – 558; 5. Nancy Johansson – 545.

Owners: 1. Courant Inc. – 257; 2. Brad Grant – 234.5; 3. Fashion Farms – 224.5; 4. Burke Racing Stable – 218.6; 5. Robert Key – 201.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place next weekend at Hoosier Park and Meadowlands Racetrack. Hoosier has the Monument Circle, Carl Erskine, Crossroads of America and USS Indianapolis on Nov. 1, while the Meadowlands will race the four Kindergarten Series finals on Nov. 2.