by Paul Ramlow, publicity director, The Grand Circuit

This Week: Review Stakes, Illinois State Fair, Springfield, Ill.; Fox Stake, the Ralph Wilfong, the Horseman Stakes and the Hoosier Stakes, Indiana State Fair, Indianapolis, Ind.; Moni Maker, The Meadows, Washington, Pa.; Muscle Hill, Artiscape and Crawford Farms Trot, Vernon Downs, Vernon, N.Y.; Battle of the Brandywine, Colonial and Valley Forge, The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Gold Cup and Saucer final, Red Shores Racetrack & Casino, Charlottetown, PEI; Nassagaweya and Eternal Camnation, Mohawk Racetrack, Campbellville, Ont.; Lady Maud and Hudson Filly Trot eliminations, Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, N.Y.; Prix d’Ete, Hippodrome 3R, Trois Rivieres, Quebec; and Roll With Joe and Reynolds Memorial, Tioga Downs, Nichols, N.Y.

Schedule of events: An extremely busy week of Grand Circuit action kicks off on Monday (Aug. 17) at the Illinois State Fair with the $23,200 Review Stake for 2-year-old trotters and the $22,900 Review Stake for 2-year-old pacers. The Tuesday (Aug. 18) program features the $18,200 Review Stake for 3-year-old trotters, the $12,200 Review Stake for 3-year-old colt pacers and the $10,900 Review Stake for 3-year-old filly pacers.

The Indiana State Fair will host one day of Grand Circuit racing on Wednesday (Aug. 19) with the feature being the $46,304 Fox Stake for 2-year-old colt pacers. The co-featured event is the $35,997 Ralph Wilfong for 2-year-old colt trotters. The Hoosier Stakes for 2-year-olds will see two divisions in the $23,372 2-year-old filly trot and the $21,832 2-year-old filly pace, with single divisions in the $20,350 2-year-old colt trot and the $20,020 2-year-old colt pace. The Horseman Stakes for 3-year-olds features single divisions in the $35,928 3-year-old filly trot, the $35,158 3-year-old colt trot, the $32,600 3-year-old filly pace and the $32,354 3-year-old colt pace.

Then on Friday (Aug. 21), Vernon Downs has a trio of $175,000 (est.) events in the Crawford Farms Trot for older trotters, the Muscle Hill for older trotting mares and the Artiscape for older pacing mares, while The Meadows will host the $175,000 (est.) Moni Maker for 3-year-old filly trotters.

Saturday’s (Aug. 22) Grand Circuit action will be led by a trio of stakes and consolations at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. The Battle of the Brandywine for 3-year-old colt pacers and the Colonial for 3-year-old colt trotters both feature a $500,000 final and $200,000 and $100,000 consolations; the Valley Forge for 3-year-old filly pacers offers a $350,000 final and $150,000 and $75,000 consolations.

Red Shores Racetrack & Casino will host the C$75,000 (est.) Gold Cup and Saucer for older pacers. Mohawk Racetrack will contest the C$225,000 (est.) Nassagaweya for 2-year-old colt pacers and the C$150,000 (est.) Eternal Camnation for 2-year-old filly pacers. Yonkers offers $20,000 eliminations in the Lady Maud for 3-year-old pacing fillies and the Hudson Filly Trot for 3-year-old trotting fillies.

Grand Circuit action concludes on Sunday (Aug. 23) at Hippodrome 3R with the C$200,000 Prix d’Ete for 4-year-old pacers and at Tioga Downs with the $175,000 (est.) Roll With Joe for older pacing males and $65,000 (est.) W.N. Reynolds Memorial races for 2-year-old colt and filly trotters.

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

Last time: Wiggle It Jiggleit and driver Montrell Teague won the $405,000 Carl Milstein Memorial for 3-year-old male pacers this past Friday night (Aug. 14) at Northfield Park in 1:49.3. The time set a new track record for 3-year-old gelding pacers, topping the old mark of 1:52 shared by Gryffindor in 2005 and Hare Craft in 2004.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Wiggle It Jiggleit, driven by Montrell Teague, held off Lost For Words to win the Milstein Memorial in 1:49.3.

Wiggle It Jiggleit held on to win by 1-1/2 lengths over Lost For Words. Wakizashi Hanover was third with The Wayfaring Man fourth.

Wiggle It Jiggleit is trained by Clyde Francis for George Teague Jr. Inc. After winning the lion’s share of the biggest purse in the history of Northfield Park, he became a millionaire, boasting 16 wins in 18 lifetime starts.

JK Endofanera and driver Brett Miller used a valiant stretch drive to overtake a field of 10 in the 22nd installment of the $307,500 Dan Patch Stakes for older pacing males, also on Aug. 14, at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino. With a final time of 1:48.4, JK Endofanera was able to take advantage of the long Hoosier Park stretch to score his third win of the season for trainer Jimmy Takter.

JK Endofanera exploded past his rivals with a :26.2 final quarter to get the win by 2-1/2 lengths. All Bets Off held on gamely for the second-place finish while Clear Vision rounded out the trifecta.

With the win, the 4-year-old son of Art Major-Presidential Lady pushed his lifetime bankroll to $1,708,338 for his connections at the 3 Brothers Stables.

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 – 572; 2. Tim Tetrick – 430; 3. David Miller – 387.5; 4. Brian Sears – 332; 5. Corey Callahan – 247.5.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 715; 2. Jimmy Takter – 485; 3. Jeff Bamond Jr. – 273; 4. Ray Schnittker – 187; 5. Rene Allard – 173.

Owners: 1. Bamond Racing – 210.5; 2. Burke Racing – 167.5; 3. Weaver Bruscemi – 149.30; 4. George Teague Jr. Inc. – 120; 5. Jeff Snyder – 100.2.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will be taking place next week at Yonkers Raceway, Mohawk Racetrack and Tioga Downs. Yonkers will contest the finals of the Lady Maud and Hudson Filly Trot, plus eliminations for the Messengers Stakes and Yonkers Trot, the second legs of the Pacing and Trotting Triple Crown. Mohawk Racetrack will contest eliminations in the Canadian Pacing Derby for older pacers, the Metro for 2-year-old colt pacers and the She’s A Great Lady for 2-year-old filly pacers. Tioga Downs will offer the second leg of the Kindergarten for 2-year-old colt and filly trotters.