East
Rutherford, NJ – The 2016 Grand Circuit stakes season at
The Meadowlands will offer over $14 million in purses led by the $5.8 million
Breeders Crown, $1.5 million Hambletonian & Oaks, $1 million TVG
Championships, $1 million Graduate Series and $800,000 Meadowlands
Pace along with nearly $1 million in New Jersey Sires Stakes (NJSS).
The $350,000 Cane Pace will again be raced
as part of the climatic Hambletonian Day card, offering fans the opportunity to
see a leg of both the trotting and pacing triple crowns as part
of the "Greatest Day in Harness Racing" on Saturday, August 6.
New for 2016 is the Elitlopp Playoff for
older trotters, created in concert with representatives of that classic race
held at Solvalla Racecourse. The $150,000 Elitlopp Playoff is scheduled to be
raced on Sunday, May 8 with the race winner being awarded an invitation to
compete in the 2016 Elitlopp which will be raced on Sunday, May 29 this year.
To mirror the conditions of the Elitlopp, the use of trotting hopples and
Lasix are prohibited in this event.
The Graduate Series for four-year-olds has
a new stop on the tour with Mohawk Racetrack joining in to host the
second leg. The series begins on May 21 at The Meadowlands, travels
to Canada for leg two on June 4 then on to Tioga Downs for the
June 12 third leg. Each leg of the Graduate will have a purse of $75,000
or $50,000 if raced in divisions. The $250,000G finals will be raced at The
Meadowlands on Pace elimination night, July 9.
The NJSS offers $100,000 guaranteed
finals to the sophomores in May and freshmen in July with two $25,000
preliminary legs leading up to those events for each group.
The big news for the 2016 Kindergarten
series is that it will include races for two-year-old pacing colts and
fillies to complement the existing trotting races. The series starts
in late July and will include two legs during the Freshman Festival meet in
September at The Meadowlands. The rich finals are scheduled for The Meadowlands
on November 5.
The
Miss Versatility series has added a fifth leg by including a second
Meadowlands stop during the September meet to go along with a pair at
Mohawk Racetrack and one at Tioga Downs. The $100,000e final will remain a part
of the Little Brown Jug card at Delaware, Ohio.
The
Meadowlands is proud to host the 2016 Breeders Crown Championships, which
will return to the metropolitan area mile track this season.
Eliminations are scheduled for October 21 & 22 and the finals back
the next weekend.
The TVG FFA Championships continue with
both open and mare divisions for 2016 and welcome Mohawk's Canadian Pacing
Derby and Maple Leaf Trot, Hoosier Park's Dan Patch, the Roll With Joe at Tioga
and Crawford Farms at Vernon Downs into the series as point earning races. The
Elitlopp Playoff has also been designated as a TVG race.
Please note that the Kindergarten and Miss
Versatility have been adjusted to include a February nomination payment (the
total of all payments remains consistent with previous seasons)and those
payments will be taken by The Meadowlands in 2016.
All of the conditions for Meadowlands
stakes/finals have been written to award 1% of the final purse to those horses
that finish "out of the money".
The complete Meadowlands 2016 stakes
schedule may be viewed here. The website also provides a “Stakes Application” page where you may download all the
information on the 2016 events including nomination forms and conditions for
all Meadowlands administered stakes. All purses listed are estimates
unless denoted as guaranteed (G).
The Breeders Crown and Hambletonian are
administered by and are the property of the Hambletonian Society.
All of the NJSS races are handled by the NJ Sires
Stakes offices.
