Many of the sport's top two-year-old and aged competitors will clash for the final time this season in the Fall Four stakes and FanDuel Championships on Saturday, Nov. 15 at The Meadowlands.

The 14-race card features eight Grand Circuit events and total stakes purses of more than $2.6 million USD. Two-year-olds will contest the Goldsmith Maid, Three Diamonds, Governor’s Cup and Valley Victory, the Grade 1 stakes that make up the Fall Four. Aged battlers, along with one three-year-old, will meet in the FanDuel Championships.

The $462,000 USD Goldsmith Maid for two-year-old filly trotters drew a field of 11, led by Nezuko Kamado S from post nine. The filly is coming off her first defeat since September after tiring to third late in the Breeders Crown, but the Marcus Melander-trained filly boasts victories in the Kentuckiana Stallion Management Stakes — in a track record — the Big Apple and two New York Sire Stakes legs. Scott Zeron is set to drive the six-time winner. She will face Jim Doherty Memorial champion Atlantic Summer, who has returned to form in recent weeks with a closing fourth-place effort in the Breeders Crown and a solid place finish in the Matron. Ronnie Wrenn Jr. is listed on the Ron Burke trainee from post five. Heart For Two, the upset winner of that Matron division, returns here for conditioner Andrew Harris with Todd McCarthy set to drive from post 11. Busy Miss Lissy S, the recently crowned Kindergarten Series final winner, has drawn post eight for trainer Ake Svanstedt and regular reinsman Jonathan Ahle. She will aim for her seventh win in nine outings this season.  

Star rookie pacing filly Loua Dipa will look to put the cherry on top of a superb season in the $357,000 USD Three Diamonds. The fastest two-year-old filly of all time blew her rivals away in the Breeders Crown on Oct. 24 following victories in the International Stallion Stakes in a world record 1:48 and the Shes A Great Lady. The Burke trainee, ranked fifth in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, rides a five-race winning streak into the contest. Wrenn has been tasked with overcoming the post 10 start with the filly. Her top rivals in the 10-horse field include Matron winner Naughty Beauty (PP3, Todd McCarthy) and Ohio champion and Breeders Crown show finisher Seaside Shuffle (PP4, Yannick Gingras).

In the absence of Beau Jangles, New York champion Fragment heads a 10-horse field of freshman pacing males in the $334,000 USD Governor’s Cup. The Per Engblom-trained colt is a nine-time winner in 15 attempts this year and recently romped in the Matron on Nov. 6. Jason Bartlett will take his usual seat behind the Big Apple winner and guide him out of post four. He will square off with Kentucky Championship Series winner Ubrute, who finished second in the Bluegrass Stakes and International Stallion before a ninth-place finish in the Breeders Crown. Gingras will send the Burke-trained colt away from post 10. To the inside of him is Melillo, who won his divisions of the Bluegrass and International Stallion, the latter in 1:48.4, and was third behind Beau Jangles in the Breeders Crown. He was fourth after leading a contested pace in the Matron and will aim to rebound here with Wrenn at the lines.

A wide-open field of 10 stakes winners will do battle in the $421,000 USD Valley Victory for two-year-old trotting males to complete the Fall Four. Breeders Crown winner Spencer Hanover will attempt to defend his divisional throne from post nine with Bartlett aboard for trainer Melander. Diabolic Hill has never looked sharper, coming off a closing place finish to Spencer Hanover in the Breeders Crown after a dominant elimination win in 1:53.1. He has post seven for driver Todd McCarthy and trainer Annie Stoebe. Those two will tangle with Nix Nacken (PP1, Gingras), who has the fastest mark in the field of 1:52.2, Pennsylvania champion Dublin Hanover (PP2, Ake Svanstedt), New York champion AI (PP5, Gingras), Wellwood and Haughton Memorial runner-up Magic Punk (PP6, Ahle), Kindergarten winner Twin B Seven Sins (PP8, Zeron) and red-hot pinto Nebbiolo (PP10, Tim Tetrick), a winner of four straight.

The trotting mares will lead off the evening’s stakes action in their $175,000 USD FanDuel Championship. The five entrants were separated by 4-1/2 lengths in the Breeders Crown, with a hard-charging Warrawee Michelle prevailing for Svanstedt. The Graduate Series champion has finished no worse than third in every start since July and will have her sights on her fourth win of the year in 11 starts as she lines up from post one with Svanstedt in the bike. Nelsonbriteagle No has drawn post five as she attempts to defend her title in this event and take her first win of the year. The Svanstedt trainee has finished third in back-to-back starts, including a three-quarter-length defeat in the Breeders Crown. Dexter Dunn, who drove her in last year's edition, gets the call. Elista Hanover will look to avenge her narrow Crown loss to Warrawee Michelle as the Stoebe-trained four-year-old starts from the two-hole in line to Todd McCarthy. Double millionaire M Ms Dream will aim to bolster her resume once more this season, having previously won the Dayton Oaks Derby, Miss Versatility Series final and Steele Memorial. Gingras is set to pilot the six-year-old Burke pupil from post four. Bravo Angel S, a five-time winner this season, completes the field from post three with Bartlett at the lines.

Three-year-old standout Miki And Minnie, the sport’s fourth-ranked horse, will take on seven older rivals in the $175,000 USD FanDuel Championship for female pacers. She won her second Breeders Crown in a dead heat on Oct. 25 for her 12th win in 14 starts this season for trainer Chris Ryder. The 2024 Dan Patch Award divisional winner dominated her sophomore rivals this season with wins in the Fan Hanover, Silverman Memorial, Lynch Memorial, Shady Daisy and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final. She will have Dunn for company from post two. Always B Naughty leads the group attempting to shut down the younger upstart after a blowout victory in the Breeders Crown. She took a lifetime mark of 1:48.1 in that contest and sharpened with a 1:52.3 qualifier for trainer Todd Luther at Dayton Raceway on Nov. 5. Austin Hanners will steer the five-year-old from post five.

Ervin Hanover puts his five-race winning streak on the line as he faces an accomplished group of aged pacing horses and geldings in their $350,000 USD FanDuel Championship. He has beaten all nine of Saturday's opponents his last five starts with victories in the Breeders Crown — a 1:46.2 Canadian record and fastest mile in harness racing this year — Dayton Pacing Derby, Jim Ewart Memorial and a Free For All at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Dunn has the drive from the inside post behind the stallion who has earned more than $1 million this season and is ranked seventh in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll. Maximus Miki heads the opposition, coming off his narrow win in the Potomac Pace at Rosecroft on Nov. 2. The Tom Cancelliere trainee, via his 1:48.1 victory in the Canadian Pacing Derby, is the only horse to have beaten Ervin Hanver since July. He also won the W.R. Haughton Memorial over several of this race’s hopefuls earlier this season. Zeron is set to drive the six-year-old gelding from post four. The field also includes defending champion Abuckabett Hanover (PP7, Gingras) and Coaches Corner (PP3, Bartlett), who was second to Ervin Hanover in the Breeders Crown.

Lexus Kody will hope to conclude his tremendous season on a high in the $350,000 USD FanDuel Championship for trotters after his show finish in the Breeders Crown. The seven-year-old, ranked eighth in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, has won the Dayton Trotting Derby, Caesars Trotting Classic, Yonkers International Trot and Maple Leaf Trot this year. The Burke-trained gelding will begin from post six with Gingras at the reins. He will rematch with Breeders Crown winner French Wine, who has hit the board in all of his past eight starts. Nancy Takter trains the five-year-old and has listed Bartlett to drive him from post eight. Periculum comes into the event after a narrow place finish to French Wine in the Breeders Crown. He dead-heated with Lexus Kody in the Caesars Trotting Classic, then won the Allerage on Oct. 5 in 1:49.3, adding to victories in the Cashman Memorial and Crawford Farms in the summer. Zeron will have the lines behind the Melander trainee from post four. Last year’s winner, Logan Park, will have his shot to repeat from post two after a 1:50.4 Open victory at Mohawk. The Kyle Fellows-conditioned seven-year-old will have Doug McNair in the sulky.

Post time for Saturday’s card is set for 6:20 p.m. Full entries for Saturday's card are available here.

(Standardbred Canada)