East Rutherford, NJ - At long last,
Grand Circuit racing returns to The Meadowlands on Saturday
night. A dozen of the finest Free For All trotters on the continent
are set to contest the $200,000 Arthur Cutler Memorial (TVG Series event) at a
mile and one eighth.
Two $50,000 divisions of the
Graduate Pace for four-year-olds play a supporting role.
The Cutler marks the first seasonal
start for Resolve who took last year's edition on his way to a million dollar season
for owner Hans Enggren and trainer driver Ake Svanstedt. Reslove also counted
the $1 million International Trot and $480,000 Maple Leaf among his successes
along with a second place finish in last year's Elitlopp.
It will be no easy task for Resolve
to defend his title against the talented group who have cumulatively
won over $9 million. World record holder JL Cruze (Corey
Callahan) and the iron tough Crazy Wow (Yannick Gingras) stand
chief among the competition in the bulky field.
The Cutler has been carded as race
seven, the first leg of the $50,000 guaranteed pool Late Pick 4. You may
download the past performance for that wager from The
Meadowlands website.
A potential perk to the Cutler
winner is an invitation to compete in the 2017 Elitlopp set for Sunday, May 29. The use
of trotting hopples and Lasix is prohibited in that event.
Elitlopp officials have again
arranged for a direct flight to Solvalla for those horses travelling across the
Atlantic to compete in the that historic event. Horsemen are encouraged to
contact The Meadowlands at (201) 842-5130 if they have interest in taking
a horse to race in Sweden. There are a number of stakes offered on the Elitlopp
undercard.
The $1 million Graduate Series
opens with the first of three legs leading into the $250,000e final on July
8. Thirteen declarations were split into a pair of divisions which
are scheduled as races four and six on Saturday.
The first division features
Western Fame, Roll Away Joe and Sintra all of whom significant impact in
various state-bred races last season.
Western Fame was second in the PASS
final which parlayed into Grand Circuit success. He won his division
of the first heat and was second in the Little Brown Jug final then
copped a Bluegrass division in Lexington. Western Fame was a
game winner over a pair of Graduate contenders in his first seasonal start last
week here for driver Mark Mac Donald, trainer Jimmy Takter and owner Brittany
Farms.
Roll Away Joe was the NYSS champ
last season and won at The Meadowlands last week when paired with Yannick
Gingras for the first time. Ron Burke trains for Howard Taylor, Steve Demeter
and Tom Lazzaro.
Sintra spent most of last
season chasing division leader Betting Line while banking over
$200,000 for owners Brad Gray, Michale Guerriero and trainer Dave Menary as
Menary Racing. He comes in off an impressive winning effort at Mohawk in
his seasonal bow and gets Brett Miller to drive.
The second Graduate division may be
a bit deeper in talent with all seven horses having earned six figures at
three, led by million dollar winner Check Six (Gingras) who missed by just
a nose to Western Fame in his seasonal debut last week for the Burke Stable,
Weaver Bruscemi, Switala & Martin.
There are a few interesting angle
to consider, not the least of which is driver Tim Tetrick's decision to get off
Boston Red Rocks, a horse he's driven to a million dollars in earnings for
Missile J who had remarkable success facing older in the Levy series at Yonkers
earlier this season.
Also, Brett Miller picks up the
drive on Lyons Snyder which seems a natural pairing as they both enjoy
going fast.
Saturday is of course Kentucky Derby day and The Meadowlands is as good a place
as there is to watch and wager on the big race in the metropolitan area. We
start early with gates opening at 9:30 a.m. and go all day into the night with
the live card starting at 7:15 p.m.
