Cranbury, NJ — Canadian horsemen will enjoy a bolstered schedule of stakes races for 2-year-olds at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 2024. The management of WEG has added the Tompkins-Geers freshman stakes, one of the oldest and most venerable of the Grand Circuit races, to the June calendar, as a launch pad for millions in summer and fall purses.

Woodbine Mohawk Park will play host for the first time to the well-traveled Tompkins-Geers Stakes, which is owned and administered by The Hambletonian Society, for 2-year-olds on Thursday (June 27) — pacing and trotting fillies — and Friday (June 28) — pacing and trotting colts and geldings.

First raced in 1940 and named for two “Grand Old Men” of the sport, Hall of Famer Edward “Pop” Geers (pacing divisions) and New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur S. Tompkins (trotting divisions), the races have evolved over the years into important early-closing preps for 2-year-olds of each sex and gait.

Both 2-year-old races of the Geers and Tompkins were old standbys at Goshen’s Good Time Park when the three-cornered track was a feature of the Roaring Grand and the late W. H. Cane conducted the Hambletonian there. The events were also raced at the Sedalia, Mo., Grand Circuit session. The hyphenated Tompkins-Geers were raced at Hazel Park and Wolverine in Michigan, Garden State Park in New Jersey, Scioto Downs in Ohio and enjoyed a long and prestigious run at Tioga Downs in New York from 2007 until the present, before migrating to Woodbine Mohawk Park as part of their 2024 richly enhanced stakes calendar.

Payment and nomination information can be found at Hambletonian.com.