The Grand Circuit's weekly overview highlights the upcoming races at Yonkers Raceway.
This Week: Blue Chip Matchmaker and MGM Borgata Pacing series finals and consolations, Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers, New York. This is the opening event of the 2022 Grand Circuit season.
Schedule of Events: The Grand Circuit at Yonkers on Monday (April 25) features the $549,000 MGM Borgata final, a $100,000 consolation and a $50,000 race for horses that were eligible to the series for open pacers, and the $381,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker final and $75,000 consolation for open pacing mares.
Last Time: The 2022 MGM Borgata Pacing Series preliminaries started with favourites going five-for-five in leg one and ended with the chalk registering a three-for-three mark in Monday’s (April 18) trio of $50,000 divisions of the final round at Yonkers Raceway. Read the full recap here.
Racine Bell stamped herself as the one to beat in the $381,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final set for April 25 with a powerful performance, capturing the second of three $40,000 divisions at Yonkers Raceway on Friday night (April 15) in 1:51.2. Read the full recap here.
Grand Circuit Standings: In 2022, 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 2022 Grand Circuit awards.
Here are the leaders (through the races on April 18, 2022):
Drivers: 1. Jordan Stratton – 99; 2. Jason Bartlett – 84; 3. Dexter Dunn – 83; 4. Yannick Gingras – 65; 5. George Brennan – 60.
Trainers: 1. Ron Burke – 106; 2. Cory Stratton – 45; 3. Erv Miller – 43; 4. Sheena Cohen – 40; 5. Jen Bongiorno – 37.
Owners: 1. Jesmeral Stable – 40; 2. The OK Corral – 37; 3. Team Tritton Inc. – 30; 4. Karen Hauver – 27; 5. Mystical Marker Farms – 22.
Looking Ahead: Grand Circuit action next week will also be held at Plainridge Park with the $100,000 Paul Revere Pace for three-year-old pacers on Thursday (April 28), while on Saturday (April 30), Freehold Raceway will host $40,000 (est.) eliminations in the Dexter Cup for three-year-old open trotters.
(Grand Circuit)