by Paul Ramlow, publicity director, The Grand Circuit

This Week: Lady Suffolk and Dexter Cup, Freehold Raceway, Freehold, N.J., John Simpson Memorial Stakes, Meadowlands Racetrack, East Rutherford, N.J. and Chip Noble Memorial and Miami Valley Distaff, Miami Valley Raceway, Lebanon, Ohio.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit at Freehold this week features the $115,370 Dexter Cup for 3-year-old open trotters on Saturday (May 3) and two divisions in the $66,150 Lady Suffolk for 3-year-old filly trotters on Friday (May 2). Meadowlands Racetrack offers the $33,016 John Simpson Memorial for 3-year-old filly pacers on Friday (May 2) and the $47,253 John Simpson Memorial for 3-year-old colt pacers on Saturday (May 3). The Sunday (May 4) card at Miami Valley Raceway will feature the $50,000 (est.) Chip Noble Memorial for older pacing mares and the $50,000 (est.) Miami Valley Distaff for older trotting mares.
Complete entries for the races can be found by clicking on this link.

Grand Circuit news: The Grand Circuit has chosen to support the initiative started by Jack Darling and will contribute to the fund created for sponsoring the television broadcast of the Little Brown Jug and Meadowlands Pace in 2014.

“Thanks to Hanover Shoe Farms and Winbak Farms, who have sponsored the Grand Circuit awards for the past two seasons, we are able to contribute to this important industry initiative,” said Grand Circuit president John Campbell.

The Meadowlands has set up a special account for industry participants and racing fans who have pledged support for the television broadcasts, which will air on the CBS Sports Network. Checks can be made out to and mailed to: Meadowlands Racetrack TV Fund, 1 Racetrack Drive, East Rutherford, NJ 07073.

Last time: The George Morton Levy Series for open pacers and Blue Chip Matchmaker Series for open pacing mares wrapped up this past weekend at Yonkers Raceway.

Mike Lizzi photo

P H Supercam and Jason Bartlett were 1:52.3 winners in the Levy final.

Foiled Again was indeed foiled again for the second consecutive week in the $567,000 Levy Memorial final at Yonkers as P H Supercam and driver Jason Bartlett used the passing lane to get by the field to win in 1:52.3. P H Supercam is trained by PJ Fraley for Bamond Racing.

As soon as the passing lane opened up in the stretch, P H Supercam was quick to drop in and make up ground as Foiled Again vainly fought to retain the lead. Apprentice Hanover made a hard charge down the lane to finish second, with Foiled Again holding for third.

Somewherovrarainbow was the winner in the $371,400 Blue Chip Matchmaker in 1:52.3.

When heavily favored Yagonnakissmeornot and driver Daniel Dube paced on to the early lead, Somewherovrarainbow and Brian Sears were right behind those two to the :27 first quarter and on to the :55.4 half. Anndrovette was trying to work her way from off the pace to the lead by the three quarters (1:23.4), but Yagonnakissmeornot maintained her lead as the field turned for home.

When the passing lane opened, Somewherovrarainbow was the first horse in it and each stride drew her closer to the lead. She got her nose in front a few strides from the wire for the victory in 1:52.3 over Yagonnakissmeornot and Krispy Apple, who split horses in the middle of the track to be third.

The first Grand Circuit event of the season for 3-year-old filly pacers was captured by Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi’s Fiyonce, who won the $110,000 Courageous Lady on April 25 at Northfield Park.

Trained by Ron Burke and driven by Josh Sutton, Fiyonce bested her competition by a head at the wire and was an upset winner, returning $48.60. Fiyonce started from post five and let her competition carve out the fractions of :27, :56.1 and 1:25.1. She was last at the top of the stretch and moved from worst to first in a thrilling stretch drive, stopping the timer at 1:55.1.

Complete recaps of the weekend races are available at the Grand Circuit website.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2014, 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 2014 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following the past weekend:

Drivers: 1. Yannick Gingras – 166; 2. George Brennan – 129.5; 3. Tim Tetrick – 85; 4. Brian Sears – 67; 5. Daniel Dube – 60.

Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 280.5; 2. PJ Fraley – 130; 3. Joe Holloway – 72; 4. Rene Allard – 60; 5. Ben Wallace – 30.5.

Owners: 1. Bamond Racing – 116; 2t. Burke Racing – 77.2; 2t. Weaver Bruscemi – 77.2; 4. Brad Grant – 34.5; 5. Diamond Creek Racing – 23.5.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit action will again take place next weekend at Meadowlands Racetrack, with the John Simpson Memorial Stakes for 3-year-old colt and filly trotters, the W.N. Reynolds Memorial for 3-year-old filly pacers, eliminations for the Arthur Cutler Memorial for older trotters and a leg of the TVG FFA Series for open pacers.