Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Around The Ovals.....

June 26, 2006

New York will host a race featuring eight Hall of Famers on Sunday afternoon, July 2. The Mr. and Mrs. Elbridge Gerry Memorial Trot will feature Doug Ackerman, John Campbell, Jim Doherty, Ron Gurfein, Mike Lachance, Cat Manzi, Ron Pierce and John Simpson Jr. The Hall of Famers will hold a meet and greet autograph session for fans after the race at the south end of the grandstand.

The $200,000 Titan Cup for free for all trotters headlines the Historic Week stakes action June 28 to July 1 at the Meadowlands. The Titan Cup on Saturday, July 1, one of nine stakes events to be contested next week, was riginally raced at the Goshen Historic Track in New York, the Historic Week stakes moved to the Meadowlands in 1979.

Sand Vic sprinted home with a 26.4 final quarter to win his Titan Cup elimination in 1:53 on Friday night. The five-year-old son of Mr Vic captured the $175,000 Arthur J. Cutler
Memorial on May 20 at the Meadowlands. Owned by August Miedel of Pompano Beach, Florida, Sand Vic has three wins and two seconds in five starts this year and a lifetime bankroll in excess of $880,000. He was winless in 14 starts in 2005, but finished second or third in nine starts. Titan Cup elim winners earned the right to choose their post
position for the final; trainer Trond Smedshammer picked post two for Sand Vic.

Strong Yankee was sent off as the 1-5 favorite in his Titan Cup elim, and seemed to have the race under wraps before giving way to Corleone Kosmos. It was the second start of the season for Strong Yankee. He won his four-year-old debut in 1:53 on June 16, and has earned nearly $1.2 million in his three-year-old season, counting the Breeders Crown
among his eight victories.

Historic Week begins Wednesday with the Acorn Stake for two-year-old trotting fillies, divided into two $61,250 divisions, races one and six, and two $47,750 divisions of the Debutante for freshman pacing fillies, races three and five. The Acorn, which has been raced since 1945, drew 20 entrants and there are 18 in the Debutante, which debuted in 1947.

The $113,000 est. EH Harriman Challenge Cup for two-year-old trotting colts, which dates back to 1924, will be contested on Thursday, along with the $114,000 est. Goshen Cup, first raced in 1949, for freshman pacing colts.

On Friday night, a bevy of Hambletonian-bound three-year-old trotters take their next step on the road to harness racing's most coveted prize in the $93,000 Historic-Dickerson Cup, which was first raced in 1910. The fillies will step out in the companion $57,000
Coaching Club Oaks, which dates back to 1941. The $66,000 Ladyship for sophomore pacing fillies will also be contested on Friday night.

Historic Week concludes on Saturday night with the $80,000 Jersey Cup for three-year-old pacers and the Titan Cup. Also sharing the spotlight are the eliminations for the $600,000 William R. Haughton Memorial for free for all pacers.

Quik Pulse Mindale scored a 1:51.1 victory Saturday night Balmoral Park. Now five, the son of Jennas Beach Boy--Midnight Stage raced just twice in 2005---last scheduled from a start on October 29. He resurfaced for Erv Miller in a May 24 qualifier at Hawthorne and has since won two pari-mutuel starts for Lloyd Arnold of Dover, Delaware. He now has 17 career wins to his credit and $849,062 in earnings. Quik Pulse Mindale took his 1:48 race record in September of 2004 at Balmoral Park.