by Paul Ramlow, publicity director, The Grand Circuit

This Week: Art Rooney eliminations, Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, N.Y.; Betsy Ross, Jerry Taylor and Maxie Lee Memorial, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Chester, Pa.; and The Graduate first leg, Tioga Downs, Nichols, N.Y.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit will take place at three locations this week. Action begins on Saturday (May 23) as Yonkers Raceway will hold a pair of $40,000 eliminations in the Art Rooney Pace for 3-year-old males.

On Sunday afternoon (May 24), Harrah’s Philadelphia will host the $150,000 Betsy Ross for older female pacers, the $150,000 Jerry Taylor for older male pacers and the $150,000 Maxie Lee Memorial for older trotters.

Memorial Day Monday (May 25) at Tioga Downs will feature the $50,000 (est.) first leg of The Graduate Series for 4-year-old open pacers and open trotters.

Complete entries for the races can be found by clicking on this link.

Last time: While there is a long history of brilliant mares defeating the older horses at the Free For All trotting level in harness racing, it had never happened in the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial. That all changed on a rainy Saturday night (May 16) at The Meadowlands.

Lisa photo

Bee A Magician won the Cutler Memorial in a time of 1:51.2.

Bee A Magician, the overwhelming 4-5 favorite, did what had yet to be done as she emerged victorious, winning the $183,650 Cutler final in 1:51.2. She became the first mare in the 17-year history of the race to win the historic event.

Driver Brian Sears put his mare on the front end at the half-mile marker and she coasted to an easy win by two lengths. Wind Of The North finished second with Melady’s Monet third. It was the same result as the week prior in the prep for the Cutler.

Sears was very proud of Bee A Magician after the race. “She’s just such a pleasure,” said Sears. “Last year was tough for her, there was a lot of traveling and it was a long season. But right now, she is just really fresh and really sharp. It is hard to keep them this sharp all year long, but hopefully she keeps going forward.”

Bee A Magician won for the 34th time in 50 lifetime starts and her lifetime earnings surpassed $2.86 million. She is trained by Nifty Norman for owners Mel Hartman, Herb Liverman and David McDuffee.

Racehorsephoto photo

All Bets Off and Matt Kakaley won the Confederation Cup final at Flamboro Downs.

All Bets Off lived up to his 3-5 favorite status to win the $188,057 Confederation Cup for 4-year-old pacers on Sunday night (May 17) at Flamboro Downs. Driven by Matt Kakaley for trainer Ron Burke, All Bets Off followed up his track record performance in last week’s elimination with a 1:51.3 front-end score in Sunday’s rich final.

In the final quarter, All Bets Off put aside the first up bid of Ideal Cowboy and created separation on Limelight Beach to cruise home and score a 1-3/4 length victory in 1:51.3. Bettorever came from eighth at the three-quarter pole to finish second, while Big Boy Dreams finished third. Limelight Beach and Ideal Cowboy picked up the final two checks, as they finished fourth and fifth.

A son of Bettor’s Delight, All Bets Off now has two wins in three starts this season for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Frank Baldachino, The Panhellenic Stb Corp. and the Estate of Rosemary J. Shelswell. The 4-year-old pacer picked up his 17th career win Sunday evening and pushed his bankroll to more than $1.2 million.

Complete recaps of the weekend 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 Farms is the sponsor for the 2015 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following the past weekend:

Drivers: 1. Daniel Dube – 145; 2. Yannick Gingras – 126; 3. Jason Bartlett – 123; 4. George Brennan – 92; 5. Brian Sears – 88.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 208; 2. Jeff Bamond Jr. – 161; 3. Rene Allard – 125; 4. Mark Silva – 45; 5. Tony O’Sullivan – 32.

Owners: 1. Bamond Racing – 144.5; 2. Burke Racing – 56.05; 3. Weaver Bruscemi – 53.55; 4. Allard Racing – 41.6; 5. Jeff Snyder – 35.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will take place at two different racetracks next weekend. The Raceway at Western Fair District will host the Molson Pace on Friday (May 29) and Yonkers Raceway offers the Art Rooney and Lismore finals on Saturday (May 30).