Hambletonian Day will feature non-stop stakes action from start to finish at The Meadowlands with the super Saturday, Aug. 8 card filled to the brim with a star-studded lineup.

In addition to the million-dollar main event, the 101st edition of the Grade 1 Hambletonian for three-year-old trotters in race 11, and the Grade 1 filly companion $500,000 USD Hambletonian Oaks in race nine, the 16-race card includes seven other graded stakes. Click here for more on the Hambletonian and Hambletonian Oaks fields.

The $310,750 USD Cane Pace (Grade 2) will feature a rematch of two of the top glamour boys in the sport this season in a compact but competitive field of five facing off in the second leg of the Pacing Triple Crown. North America Cup winner Odds On Mr Mamba and runner-up Brandon Blvd will meet again in the day's third race for the first time since that spectacular June 13 showdown. Indiana shipper Odds On Mr Mamba enters the Cane off a top three finish in the Delvin Miller Adios, beaten just a neck in a 1:48.1 mile on July 25 at The Meadows, while Brandon Blvd looks to stay unbeaten in competition at his home track following victories in the Meadowlands Pace on July 11 and last weekend's Tompkins-Geers Stakes in a career-best 1:47.3 mile. 

Odds On Mr Mamba has the outside post and will be driven by James MacDonald for trainer Melanie Wrenn while Brandon Blvd, North America's top money-winner this year on the verge of a million dollars, has drawn post two for Dexter Dunn and Andrew Harris. They will face a pair of familiar foes in Gentlemans Club (post three, Andy McCarthy) from the Aaron Lambert stable and the Dan Lagace-trained Sweet Lovin Lou (post four, Scott Zeron), with Captain Underhand (post one, Todd McCarthy) playing the role of underdog in his first Grand Circuit stakes test for trainer Tony Alagna.

Before trainer Marcus Melander sends out six sophomore trotters in the Hambo and Oaks, he'll have a powerful pair of older trotters vying for the John Cashman Memorial title with Super Chapter, who was the 2025 Hambletonian runner-up, and veteran Aetos Kronos S, a Hambo day winner last year in the Vincennes Trot, starting from the two inside posts. Dunn will have his pick of the pair, with the former coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Graduate Series final and Hambletonian Maturity at The Big M in early July while the latter has been a major player in his four stakes assignments so far this year.

The field of nine heavyweight trotters is nearly all millionaires, with defending Dan Patch Trotter of the Year Lexus Kody being the richest among them with more than $2.9 million in his coffers. The Ron Burke trainee is riding a three-race win streak that includes consecutive record sub-1:50 victories in the JL Cruze and Spirit Of Massachusetts last month. With Yannick Gingras driving, he will start in post six just outside of last year's Breeders Crown champion French Wine (Jason Bartlett) from the Nancy Takter stable. The Grade 1 event with a purse of $281,200 USD is scheduled as race eight.

Trotting mares will face off in race 10 between the main events in the $183,650 USD John R. Steele Memorial (Grade 2). The overflow field of 11 is headlined by Yo Tillie, fresh off a 1:51 victory last weekend in a leg of the Miss Versatility Series at The Big M. The Breeders Crown champion, who has earned more than $1.9 million, will start from post five with regular reinsman Todd McCarthy in the bike for Harris.

One of her familiar foes is Trond Smedshammer trainee Walspea in post four with Yannick Gingras getting the catch-driving call. Last year's Oaks runner-up trotted a mile in 1:48.3 while finishing third against the boys in the Graduate final and hit the board just a half-length behind Yo Tillie last time out.

The 2024 Oaks queen and two-time Breeders Crown champion Warrawee Michelle will have to overcome a trailing tier start to get back into the win column this year for trainer Ake Svanstedt. She nearly did it in the Steele last year from post 11, trotting a final quarter in :26 flat to come up just a half-length short in a sub-1:50 mile.

The Sam McKee Memorial (Grade 2) for open pacers is split into two stacked divisions going back-to-back in races 12 and 13 following the Hambletonian. The $138,650 USD first division features the speedy Dave Menary trainee Ervin Hanover, who came within a tick of his Breeders Crown career-best 1:46.2 clocking when winning the Dave Brower Memorial at The Meadowlands in early July. The O'Brien Award winner has drawn post three with Dunn listed to drive.

Next door in post four is the Takter-trained Captain Optimistic (Zeron), the 2025 Cane Pace winner who lowered his mark to 1:46.3 in last month's Graduate Series final at The Big M. Ken Hanover (Tim Tetrick), a defending McKee champion from the Rollie Mallar stable, will start to his outside in the middle of the gate. The Per Engblom trainee Lou Hill (Gingras) beat him in the William R. Haughton Memorial last month and will look to continue his success in stakes action this season despite drawing the outside post nine.

The second $139,900 USD division is no short of talent with the Burke duo of Bythemissal (post three, Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) and Swingtown (post one, Gingras), top two in another Haughton division the last time they hit the track. Driver Todd McCarthy will have to pick between two top contenders with major early season stakes wins on their 2026 resumes as he is listed on the Noel Daley-trained triple millionaire Captain Albano (post eight), who won the MGM Borgata Pacing Series championship at Yonkers Raceway, and double millionaire Prince Hal Hanover (post seven), who won the Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup at Flamboro Downs for Dr. Ian Moore.

Trainer Chris Ryder will send out two of the older distaff pacing division's finest in the $156,500 USD Lady Liberty (Grade 2) in race 14 with Miki And Minnie leaving from post two in rein to MacDonald and Twin B Joe Fresh starting from post seven with Dunn driving. The triple millionaires each boast impressive trophy collections. Twin B Joe Fresh, a Lady Liberty champion in 2024, counts the Dorothy Haughton Memorial at The Big M and Clara Barton Distaff at Plainridge Park as her most recent conquests last month. New divisional darling Miki And Minnie, who won the Shady Daisy on Hambletonian day last year, has racked up stakes wins already this season in the Roses Are Red Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park, the Perfect Sting at The Meadowlands and the Cleopatra Invitational at Scioto Downs.

This year's Shady Daisy, a Grade 3 event for three-year-old pacing fillies with a purse of $123,200 USD, will close out the stakes action in the 15th race. Trained by Anthony Beaton, Be Perfect BG headlines the field of seven, with just two narrow losses in her 12-race career -- both at the hands of Loua Dipa, who is not entered. Dunn is listed to drive the post five starter, who heads into the Shady Daisy off a 1:49 victory in the Adioo Volo at The Meadows. 

Darlins Angel is among the fillies hoping to play spoiler for the driving and training team of Lauren Tritton and Juan Cano after hitting the board behind the aforementioned fillies in the Jerry Silverman Memorial at The Big M last month and winning the Tompkins-Geers Stakes in 1:49.2 this past weekend.

Saturday's card also includes the Vincennes Preferred Trot with returning Hambletonian champion Nordic Catcher S back in action at The Meadowlands, along with New Jersey Sire Stakes Platinum finals for two-year-old trotters and the Continental Victory and Muscle Hill for three-year-old trotters. Post time is 12 noon. 

To view the complete entries for Saturday's card at The Meadowlands, click here.

(Standardbred Canada)