U.S. Hall of Fame trainer Ron Burke will be heading east to Massachusetts on Sunday, July 23 with members of the Burke Brigade who will start in the $250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot and $100,000 Clara Barton Distaff Pace as the Grand Circuit makes its third stop of the year at Plainridge Park. Post time for the first race is 2 p.m.

Burke will start the lone millionaire in the race, Its Academic (pictured above), along with his stablemate Hillexotic in the Spirit of Massachusetts and near millionairess Drama Act in the Clara Barton.

Its Academic is a longtime member of Burke’s stable and is by far the biggest money earner entered in the Spirit this year. He is also a very high percentage horse, hitting the board 75 per cent of the time, including his 26 wins.

“We’ve had Its Academic his whole life except for a few starts in Canada," said Burke, who trains the six-year-old son of Uncle Peter for owner Brad Grant of Milton, Ont. "And although he’s been solid right along, it seems like at the end of last year he went from being a very good horse to a great horse. Right now, I think he’s as good as any aged trotter in the country."

Its Academic drew post nine and will have regular reinsman David Miller in the bike for Sunday's event.

“The nine-hole is going to be a test for him because he’s going to have to leave into a lot of early speed because I feel there are quite a few horses that are going to go forward in there, trying to get position.”

Its Academic finished second in the Spirit last year to Alrajah One IT and is looking to have a different outcome this year. Earlier this year on May 14, Its Academic set an early season mark when he trotted in 1:51.2 at Harrah’s Philadelphia, which at the time, was the fastest trotting mile over any five-eighths-mile track in North America.

Burke obtained Hillexotic in April of 2022 and the trotter has been a rock solid campaigner ever since. And as many trotters do, he appears to be improving with age.

“Hillexotic seems to get a little better every year," said Burke of his trainee, who will start from post four on Sunday with driver Yannick Gingras aboard. "He possesses extreme gate speed so he puts himself in a place where he can control the race most of the time, and I’m sure that’s what Yannick will be looking to do this week.

"He’s really been good lately, too. His first couple of starts this year he was a little off and we found out he was running a low-grade fever. We got him over that and ever since then he’s been really excellent.”

The six-year-old son of Muscle Hill comes into this race winning three out of his last four starts that include a victory in the Maxie Lee Memorial at Harrah’s Philadelphia on May 28, when he went in 1:50.2 to establish a new world record for an aged gelding trotter (older than age four), equalled the fastest trotting mile ever at Harrah's Philadelphia and took a new lifetime mark.

Hillexotic is owned by the partnership of Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Phil Collura.

“We actually trained Hillexotic and Its Academic together this week because I figured they’d both get in and they went in 1:52 and a piece at Gaitway Farm, which is the most we’ve ever trained trotters at Gaitway," said Burke. "They both couldn’t have gone any better; I was thrilled with them. We didn’t go out intending to go quite that much, but they did it so easy, we ended up having our own pre-Spirit of Massachusetts Trot ourselves.”

Currently, Its Academic and Hillexotic both hold seasonal marks of 1:50.2, placing them tied for the second fastest trotting mile of the year in North America behind Venerate (1:50.1). Burke is looking for his first Spirit of Massachusetts Trot win. 

Turning to the Barton, Burkes entry, Drama Act, is another horse he bought late in her three-year-old season and turned into a win machine. In her first 15 months in the Burke stable, Drama Act won 16 races for owner/breeder The Ok Corral. In 2022, she won three legs and the final of the $381,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker Series at Yonkers Raceway and races regularly at the Hilltop against the toughest mares around. She comes into the Barton just $8,652 shy of $1 million in lifetime earnings and reaching that goal this week is a priority for Burke.

“Drama Act is just a sweet horse, she does everything you could ask of her. You couldn’t have a nicer horse to train," said Burke. "She was actually getting good when I got her, but [driver] Chris Page taught her a lot early on. She was supposedly hot and hard to drive, but Chris had a lot of patience and taught her to be a good horse to where now, you can use her either way, and that makes such a big difference when you’re in against the top horses. You’ve got to be able to leave if you want to leave and duck when you need to duck.

“She races at Yonkers regularly and I think she enjoys going to a five-eighths-mile track because she gets to stretch out a bit. We took her to Philly in June and she won handily in 1:50. This five-horse field at Plainridge is going to be a cool little race. I think Mikala is probably a little bit better than everybody else, but I don’t think she’s unbeatable better than everybody else.”

Burke said it will be the first time David Miller will be driving the six-year-old Well Said mare, who has drawn post two, but pointed out that Miller first time, picks horses up. He also said Miller can make horses go, is a little bit different tactically and is actually excited to see what he can do with this horse.

“This is really her biggest race of the year so it’s an important race for her and we’re going to go all out here. She can go over a million dollars in earnings Sunday and that’s been one of my goals with her because we’ll probably be breeding her next year to produce more like her. It’s a big deal to me and she deserves it,” Burke concluded.

Burke also entered $1.1 million winner Workin Ona Mystery in the $75,000 Bert Beckwith Memorial Invitational Pace, which is featured on a very strong undercard on Spirit Sunday.

Gates for Spirit of Massachusetts Day open at 1 p.m. on Sunday and the afternoon will feature an array of activities.

Owners, trainers and their connections of horses racing in the stakes will be treated to a welcome luncheon in the Boylston Room, upstairs in the grandstand.

Todd Angilly of the Boston Bruins will be singing the national anthem before the first race and will also be performing at other times during the day along with the Berkshire Valley Boys, who will be providing entertainment throughout the day between races.

Guests will be able to get a free Plainridge Park commemorative 25th anniversary hat compliments of Plainridge Park Casino and the Harness Horseman’s Association of New England and B101-FM Providence will be on the property giving fans a chance to win racing binoculars compliments of Plainridge Park Casino and B101-FM.

The Home Stretch food truck will be available near The Patio and a bar will be open at The Hut outside of the grandstand.  

The complete fields for the Spirit of Massachusetts Trot and Clara Barton Distaff Pace are listed below.

$250,000 Spirit of Massachusetts Trot
Post - Hose - Driver - Trainer
1. Kildare King - Trevor Smith - Chris Beaver
2. Rattle My Cage - Ake Svanstedt - Ake Svanstedt
3. Marquis Lafayette - Bruce Ranger - Domenico Cecere
4. Hillexotic - Yannick Gingras - Ron Burke
5. Herculisa - Austin Siegleman - Matty Medeiros
6. Balenciaga - Mark MacDonald - Paul Kelley
7. Delayed Hanover - Andy Miller - Kevin Mc Dermott
8. Asteroid - Dexter Dunn - Ake Svanstedt
9. Its Academic - David Miller - Ron Burke

$100,000 Clara Barton Distaff Pace
Post - Horse - Driver - Trainer
1. Valar Dohaeris - Mark MacDonald - Ake Svanstedt
2. Drama Act - David Miller - Ron Burke
3. Max Contract - Andy Miller - Julie Miller
4. Sweet Treasure - Yannick Gingras - Nancy Takter
5. Mikala - George Brennan - Nik Drennan

(With files from Plainridge Park)