After tasting success during a two-year stint in the U.S. a little more than a decade ago, Jim Oscarsson is back Stateside and hoping to harness Grand Circuit winners again. Oscarsson and his wife, Susanne, returned to the U.S. from Sweden last year. Oscarsson is training four horses at the moment, all 2-year-old trotters that will be in action this week in Bluegrass Stakes divisions at Lexington’s Red Mile.
Tag: Ken Weingartner
M-M’s Dream back to Hoosier for Caesars Trotting Classic
There is no place like home for millionaire trotting mare M-M’s Dream. True, the two-time Indiana Sire Stakes champion has brought her game successfully on the road since turning 4 last year, winning multiple times on the Grand Circuit, but she has certainly enjoyed the home cooking at Harrah’s Hoosier Park throughout her career. On Friday, after three months of racing on the East Coast and in Canada, M-M’s Dream returns to Hoosier Park for the $200,000 Caesars Trotting Classic.
Captain Albano wins Little Brown Jug
There were no shaky moments for Captain Albano and driver Todd McCarthy on Thursday as they swept their elimination and the final of the 79th edition of the Little Brown Jug for 3-year-old pacers at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Not on the racetrack, anyway. The winner’s circle was another story.
LBJ hopeful ‘Zane’ a special horse to Saunders family
John Saunders knows the thrill of being the captain of a Yale football team that beat Harvard in The Game. On Thursday, the Ohio native will look to tackle The Jug. Saunders, whose family’s involvement in harness racing dates to the 1940s and his Ohio Hall of Fame-inducted great-uncle C.M. Saunders, owns Little Brown Jug hopeful Rose Run Zane with his wife, Leann.
‘Sweet’ homebreds lead Burke’s Kentucky Championship hopefuls
Ron Burke and the Burke Brigade have always believed in Sweet Lou as a stallion, and Sweet Lou continues to repay their faith in him. Sunday’s $400,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series finals provide examples. Sweet Lou, trained by Burke during the horse’s Hall of Fame career, sired Burke Brigade homebreds Louprint and Looksgoodinloulou, who are the morning-line favorites in the finals for 2-year-old male pacers and 2-year-old female pacers, respectively.
Wiesmans look forward to big weekend
For Colby Wiesman and his dad, Jon, the next three days will be collectively unlike any they experienced before. On Friday, the Wiesmans will watch Delaney Hanover compete in the $305,000 Jim Doherty Memorial for 2-year-old female trotters at Harrah’s Hoosier Park. The next day, they will turn their attention north of the border to watch Caballero in a C$40,000 elimination of the Canadian Trotting Classic for 3-year-old male trotters at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Then they will cap their weekend by watching Go Dog Go race in the $400,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes Championship Series final for 2-year-old male trotters at Lexington’s Red Mile.
Logan Park set for ‘intriguing’ International
As Robert Fellows contemplated how Saturday’s $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot might play out, he came to one conclusion. “I’m glad I’m a trainer and not a driver,” he said. Fellows will send out Canada’s Logan Park in the International Trot, a 10-horse invitational to be contested at the distance of 1-1/4 miles on MGM Yonkers Raceway’s half-mile oval.
Kihlström hopes for luck with Hail Mary
Örjan Kihlström will hope the third time’s the charm when he drives Sweden’s Hail Mary in Saturday’s $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot, but with a challenging starting spot, he readily admitted it might require a bit of good fortune.
Saunders bullish on Manolete
Manolete is still in the early stages of his career, but trainer Bruce Saunders has already found a lot to like about the freshman male pacer as he prepares to send the colt to his $150,000 New Jersey Classic final Friday at The Meadowlands.
Periculum aims for International glory
The most recent horse to represent the U.S. and win the MGM Yonkers International Trot, Resolve in 2016, captured the million-dollar race in his first start after winning the Maple Leaf Trot. Periculum, one of two horses representing the U.S. in Saturday’s edition of the invitational event, will attempt to do the same.