This Week:  Courageous Lady, MGM Northfield Park, Northfield, Ohio; and John Simpson Stakes, Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Schedule of events: Grand Circuit action will be held on Saturday night (Oct. 14) at MGM Northfield Park with the $100,000 Courageous Lady for 3-year-old filly pacers. Morning-line favorite Ucandoit Blue Chip will call it a career following her start and enters Saturday’s race off a victory in the $255,000 Jugette final.

Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Monday afternoon (Oct. 16) will feature two divisions in the $109,500 John Simpson Stakes for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers and three divisions in the $91,200 Simpson for 3-year-old filly trotters. On Tuesday (Oct. 17), Pocono has three divisions in the $128,900 Simpson for 2-year-old colt trotters and four divisions in the $120,000 Simpson for 3-year-old filly pacers. John Simpson Stakes events will continue Wednesday (Oct. 18) and Saturday (Oct. 21) at Pocono.

Complete entries for the races are available at this link.

Last time: In a déjà vu effort, Tactical Approach got locked at the pylons but had the red seas of clay open to the inside to give him room to dart and grab the lead in the closing strides of the $450,000 Kentucky Futurity on Sunday (Oct. 8) at The Red Mile.

Hambletonian champion Tactical Approach scored a victory in the third leg of trotting’s Triple Crown. Amanda Stephens photo.

Driver Scott Zeron, unlike in his Hambletonian win earlier this year, sent Tactical Approach forward to a :27.2 first quarter, but soon got mired in a shuffle for the lead. Kilmister came first for the front from post nine and cleared to the backstretch before yielding to stablemate Oh Well, who had stablemate Air Power on cover moving to a :55.1 half. Tactical Approach then found himself shuffled to sixth and locked inside to the far turn.

Air Power took a bad step first over and jumped stride, leaving Oh Well on the lead and French Wine uncovered. French Wine took his shot at Oh Well through three-quarters in 1:23.4 and forged to a two-length lead coming into the stretch. Oh Well and Kilmister angled off the pylons to take their shots, which paved the way for Tactical Approach to zip through the inside. French Wine trotted to the finish on fumes and drifted just enough to create the final opening for Zeron to sneak through and snag the prize by a head. Celebrity Bambino rallied off a shuffle from last to finish third and Kilmister took fourth.

“I was a little late to the car, which actually got him out on the right foot a lot quicker than I thought I would, putting me in an absolute horrible position,” Zeron said. “There was nothing really I could do. It hasn’t been great on the front today, so those were the cards we were dealt. I was certainly out of position in the middle of the last turn and the horse overcame it. He made it quite thrilling.”

“I was faithful until the end,” winning trainer Nancy Takter said with a laugh of Tactical Approach’s eventful trip. “The Hambletonian was really when he did start learning to race, and Scott would agree that he’s just getting better and better every start now. We were playing with the idea of going to Canada (for the Canadian Trotting Classic), but we vetoed that idea because we just wanted to keep him here and get him ready for the Kentucky Futurity. Now onto the Breeders Crown.”

Tactical Approach won his 10th race from 20 career starts and has now entered millionaire’s row with $1,013,989 in the bank for owners Robert LeBlanc, John Fielding, Joe Sbrocco and JAF Racing. The colt by Tactical Landing won the last two legs of this year’s Trotting Triple Crown, having scored a similar pylon-skimming upset in the $1 million Hambletonian.

Complete recaps of all the races are available at the Grand Circuit website. For a list of 2023 race winners on the Grand Circuit, click here.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2023, 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 2023 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders (through the races on 10-8-23):

Drivers: 1. Yannick Gingras – 1,009; 2. David Miller – 874; 3. Dexter Dunn – 837; 4. Tim Tetrick – 825; 5. Scott Zeron – 765.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 1,216; 2. Ake Svanstedt – 884; 3. Tony Alagna – 526; 4. Nancy Takter – 483; 5. Brett Pelling – 384.

Owners: 1. Diamond Creek Racing – 350.6; 2. Burke Racing Stable – 248.5; 3. Hudson Standardbred Stable – 185.8; 4. Weaver Bruscemi – 170.6; 5. Ken Jacobs – 150.

Looking ahead: In addition to the Simpson Stakes at Pocono next week, Grand Circuit action will also take place at Harrah’s Hoosier Park and The Meadowlands. Hoosier will host Breeders Crown eliminations for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and older horses of both sexes and gaits and the Circle City for 3-year-olds of both sexes and gaits; and The Meadowlands will feature the fourth leg of the Kindergarten Series for 2-year-olds of both sexes and gaits.