The Meadowlands racetrack in New Jersey will present its title stake, the $600,000 Meadowlands Pace, for three-year-olds as part of ‘The Greatest Party in Harness Racing’ card worth more than $2.5 million in prizemoney on Saturday night.
And, from a down under viewpoint, there is more than the usual interest.
The McCarthy brothers, Andy and Todd, and Kiwi maestro Dexter Dunn, the USA Driver of the Year for the last three seasons, will be participating in the Grand Circuit classic.
Andy, having his fourth drive in the Meadowlands Pace, will pilot I Did It Myway, Todd will make his debut aboard Caviart Camden, while Dunn will be at the reins of one of last week’s elimination winners, Market Based.
From a breeding standpoint, nine of the 10 finalists were sired by stallions currently available to breeders in Australia and New Zealand.
The line-up includes progeny of past Meadowlands Pace winners in Captaintreacherous (2013) and Huntsville (2017), while Mach Three, the winner of the 2002 edition, figures as the damsire of Fourever Boy and Mad Max Hanover.
Captaintreacherous (Empire Stallions) has three finalists, Huntsville (Cobbitty Equine Farm) and Sweet Lou (Woodlands Stud) are dually represented and Always B Miki (Alabar Bloodstock), Betting Line (Empire Stallions) and the deceased Somebeachsomewhere each have one.
The 10 runners have amassed more than $2.2 million in stakemoney between them with Early Action ($450,411) the richest and elimination winner Beach Glass and I Did It Myway the joint fastest at 1:48.2.
The supporting Grand Circuit stakes include the $500,000 William Haughton Memorial for open pacers, the $175,000 Dorothy Haughton Memorial for pacing mares, the $150,000 Mistletoe Shalee for three-year-old fillies, the $432,000 Hambletonian Maturity for four-year-old trotters, two $125,000 divisions of the Stanley Dancer Memorial for three-year-old trotting colts, a pair of $100,000 Del Miller Memorials for three-year-old trotting fillies and the $40,000 Miss Versatility for trotting mares.
