The Fourth of July may be Sunday, but the harness racing fireworks will be exploding a bit early as Yonkers Raceway hosts a quartet of major stakes on Friday (July 2) for three-year-olds, including the kick-off legs for both the trotting and pacing Triple Crowns.

Eliminations on June 25 thinned the fields down to the elite eight that will compete in each of two $500,000 Triple Crown races, the MGM Yonkers Trot and MGM Grand Messenger, as well as two $150,000 filly companion races, the New York New York Mile Trot and Park MGM Pace. As is customary, the ladies lead off the parade of stakes carded as races six through nine on the 12-race card that starts at 7:15 p.m.

Trainer Marcus Melander enters the New York New York Mile Trot with a strong pair of Courant Inc.-owned three-year-old fillies on opposite ends of the starting gate. The 2019 Dan Patch Trainer of the Year sends out Iteration from post 2 and Imhatra Am S from the eight-hole in hopes of taking down at least half of the $150,000 prize.

Iteration, along with Sweeping Rainbow (9-2, post 5, David Miller), were given byes as the other six finalists competed for spots in last week’s elimination. The Chapter Seven-sired Iteration, listed as the 5-2 morning line favourite, has won both of her starts in 2021, including an impressive 1:53.1 Empire Breeders Classic victory at Vernon Downs on June 18.

“She really stepped up in the Empire Breeders Classic. I wasn’t there, but Brian [Sears] said it was not the best track that night. She did it very easy and I think she is coming into this very sharp,” said Melander, who felt the change to the smaller half-mile oval wouldn’t hurt her chances. “She was on the half last year and didn’t have any problem with it, and I would be shocked if she had a problem with it this year.”

Regular driver Brian Sears will be in the bike again on Friday as he choose Iteration over Imhatra Am S (15-1), who gets a very capable replacement in George Brennan. Imhatra Am S came charging home when clear in the stretch to finish just a head back in second behind Mazzarati (3-1, post 7, Tim Tetrick) in the elimination a week ago.

“She raced very well in the elimination. If she would’ve gotten room a little earlier, I think she would’ve gotten there,” said Melander about Imhatra Am S. “I think she can get a good check with the right trip, but the eight-hole is the eight-hole.”

The wide-open New York New York Mile also features a pair of starters from trainer George Ducharme – Lindys Dollywood (9-1, post 4, Todd McCarthy) and Contested Hanover (8-1, post 6, Scott Zeron) – and elimination fourth- and fifth-place finishers Rebel Girl (6-1, post 3, Dexter Dunn) and Presto (9-1, post 1, Yannick Gingras).

There is no doubt that the seventh race Park MGM Pace will feature the shortest-priced favourite of the stakes on the Friday card. The unbeaten-in-2021 Test of Faith headlines the field of sophomore fillies after winning her elimination handily in 1:52.1, more than two full seconds faster than the other elimination was timed.

“She came out of the race really good,” said trainer Brett Pelling, who admitted that Test Of Faith has no weaknesses. “If she has one, I haven’t found it yet. She’s sound, has a beautiful gait, gets around a half perfectly and doesn’t wear any rigging. I try to spend time with her but my job as a trainer is to fix things and there isn’t much wrong because she is who she is.”

Test of Faith (3-2), who will start from post 3 with regular pilot David Miller at the controls for owners Melvin Segal, Kentuckiana Racing Stable and Eddie Gran, should face her greatest obstacles to the winner’s circle from a pair of Linda Toscano-trained fillies on the inside of the gate. Heart Of Mine (7-2, post 1, Jason Bartlett) won the other elimination a week ago in 1:54.2 and is now perfect in six starts this year. Her stablemate Marsala Hanover (9-2, Zeron) starts just to her outside and was third behind Test of Faith in the elimination.

“Marsala Hanover has gone some big trips and might be the only one that can go her speed. Do I fear her, probably not,” said Pelling when asked about the competition.

Other contenders in the field include Darby Hanover (7-1, Andy Miller) and Classicist (7-1, Todd McCarthy) from posts 4 and 5, respectively. Both finished second in the preliminary round last week, with the former chasing Heart Of Mine and the latter getting run down by Test Of Faith.

All 20-1 in the early line, Shania Blue Chip (Dunn), So Irresistible (Andrew McCarthy) and Lyons Softassilk (Tetrick) complete the field from posts 6 through 8, respectively.

Race eight marks the 2021 launch of the Trotting Triple Crown, which comprises the MGM Yonkers Trot, Hambletonian at The Meadowlands, and Kentucky Futurity at The Red Mile. All eight starters in the $500,000 Yonkers Trot are also Hambletonian eligible, and one winner will have the opportunity to become the 10th Triple Crown champion.

Trainer Tony Alagna hopes he has that chance with elimination winner Ahundreddollarbill (4-1, post 6, Andrew McCarthy), who scored over the surface last Friday in 1:54.2. Owned by Crawford Farms Racing and James A Crawford, the son of Chapter Seven has posted a perfect record in four starts this year.

“He’s trained back well all winter and has really lived up to what we thought he could be,” said Alagna. “I think we have the best horse, but it is half-mile track racing and you need things to go your way. As far as ability-wise, who he’s racing against and how he’s done it so far – he won with the earplugs in the other day – I feel very comfortable.”

While handicappers may be concerned that Ahundreddollarbill had trouble with the turns at Yonkers in his elimination win, Alagna is hardly worried.

“It was more so that Andy [McCarthy] was taking a hold of him to see where the field was getting settled. It really wasn’t the [first] turn itself, he just had him doubled-up letting everyone else get position before he could move on to the front.”

Fellow elimination winner Johan Palema (1:54.1) worked out a perfect pocket trip and sprinted home in 27.2 to advance to the final. That sharp mile earned him morning line favourite status at 3-1. Driver Yannick Gingras should once again get the chance to make his own luck with the Ake Svanstedt-trained and Bender Sweden Inc.-owned son of Bar Hopping from post 3.

Svanstedt’s chances of taking home the trophy is exponentially better than Gingras since he also trains Ambassador Hanover (9-2), who he co-owns and will drive from post 1, and Mon Amour (6-1), leaving from post 4 with Andy Miller in the bike.

As in the New York New York Mile with Imhatra Am S, the post draw was not kind to the Marcus Melander-trained Yonkers Trot starter In Range (7-2). Considered one of the top three-year-old trotters in the sport entering the year, In Range has only posted one win from four starts and must overcome the eight-hole with Tim Tetrick in the bike.

“Obviously we are going to need some luck from out there, but that is Timmy’s [Tetrick] problem,” joked Melander about $446,887 career winner owned by AMG Stable Inc, Kenneth Kjellgren and Rick Wahlstedt.

“You can’t ask for him to go faster than he did in the last quarter,” added Melander on In Range’s :27.2 final fractional time in his elimination. “I don’t know what Tim is going to do but I guess he has to leave a little bit.”

Even the outsiders on the morning-line in the Yonkers Trot have the credentials to win. On A Streak (10-1, post 2, Dan Dube) is a Breeders Crown winner and leads the field in earnings at $764,659. Ethan T Hanover (12-1, post 5, Bartlett) has a win over the track and along with Arnold N Dicky (10-1, post 7, Dunn) has eclipsed six figures in the earnings column.

The pacers get their chance to shine one race later in the $500,000 MGM Grand Messenger and four of the eight starters – Simon Says Hanover, I’ll Drink To That, American Courage and Abuckabett Hanover – are eligible to the Cane Pace, the second leg of the Pacing Triple Crown.

Certainly the fastest and perhaps the most impressive elimination winner was American Courage. The Fiddler’s Creek Stables-owned colt secured the lead passing the opening quarter from an inside post and marched down the road for a 1:50.4 win. Now driver Matt Kakaley may have to map out a new plan from post 6 in the final.

“He came out of it better than he went into his elimination,” said trainer Travis Alexander. “Post 6 is not the greatest, but it isn’t the worst either. Matt [Kakaley] doesn’t usually fire him out anyway. I’m sure the 2, 3 and 4 will blast out hard and then he can make a decision. My job is just to get the horse ready and the rest is up to Matt.”

Despite winning his elimination, American Courage was installed as the 7-2 second choice on the morning-line behind the horse that finished 1-1/4 lengths behind him in second, Charlie May (2-1, Brett Miller), who received the opposite post switch from 7 in his elimination to 3 on Friday night. The Don Tiger-owned and Steve Carter-trained gelding by McArdle had some bumps in the road to start the year, but has since paced three impressive miles and certainly is on Alexander’s radar.

“Charlie May. He’s a nice horse,” said Alexander on the rival he fears most in the field. “I know he didn’t do a lot of work in his elimination, but Steve Carter is no dummy. I respect him very much. It’s a good field, but if I had to pick one horse, it would be Charlie May.”

Considered one of the favourites coming into the Messenger, Abuckabett Hanover, who scored a 1:51.3 elimination victory as part of a 1-9 entry, has dropped to 6-1 on the morning line. Despite the impressive performance line on paper, perhaps the oddsmaker and the general public saw the son of Betting Line veer sharply right on the first turn before ultimately coming first-over to win.

“He got around the turns good, but the issue was we put a gaiting pole on him to help him out a little bit,” said trainer Tony Alagna about Abuckabett Hanover’s first-turn issues. “He raced in his first start at The Meadowlands, but we never had to touch him with it. Andy [McCarthy] touched him with it in the first turn and he turned right. It just scared him. So we are going back to a gaiting strap, which is what he wore when he won at Chester [Harrah’s Philadelphia].”

With the equipment issues behind him, Abuckabett Hanover, who is co-owned Alagna Racing along with Crawford Farms Racing, Jablonsky Held Stable and Barbara Wienick Stable, will try to keep his unblemished record in four starts intact despite an unfavorable starting spot.

“With the eight-hole he’s going to have to have some things shake his way,” said Alagna, who is clearly focused not only on the Messenger but on the long stakes season for three-year-olds that is just kicking off on Friday.

Also given a 6-1 early chance of winning for Alagna is Simon Says Hanover. Much luckier at the draw, he starts from post 1 with Scott Zeron in the bike for Riverview Racing, Brad Grant, Ken Jacobs, Plouffe Head and VJ Stable.

“The way he closed in his elimination the other day, I thought he was really good. I thought he might even get up for second,” said Alagna about the Hanover Shoe Farms-bred son of Captaintreacherous who was fourth, beaten 1-3/4 lengths, in the elimination. “If they mix things up and he gets a good trip, he wouldn’t be a total surprise.”

The early speed in the Messenger is sure to come from Ill Drink To That (4-1, post 2, Dunn), who hasn’t been worse than second in six 2021 starts, and Chase H Hanover (10-1, post 4, Sears), another son of Captaintreacherous who has been first or second at the quarter in all five of his current-year starts.

Outsiders Mysweetboymax (post 5, Bartlett) and Higlandbeachsbest (post 7, Gingras), both rated at 20-1, round out the field.

The stakes action at Yonkers doesn’t end Friday. When the July 4 weekend fireworks conclude, fans will only have to wait one week for more top horses to visit as the eliminations for the MGM Springfield for two-year-olds is scheduled for July 9. The New York Sire Stakes series will also make multiple stops to Yonkers culminating in New York Night of Champions on Sept. 10.

Yonkers races Monday to Friday weekly with a 7:15 p.m. post time.

(Yonkers Raceway)