Many of harness racing's biggest stars gathered at The Meadowlands on Saturday, June 28 to contest more than $950,000 in Grand Circuit stakes in a card that featured the Crawford Farms, Perfect Sting, Six Pack, two divisions of the Dave Brower Memorial, and four W.N. Reynolds splits.
The doll of her class at two and three, Sylvia Hanover endured many defeats as Twin B Joe Fresh claimed the crown in the four-year-old campaign in progress to a Horse of the Year title. But Sylvia Hanover returned in the fourth start of her five-year-old season and landed a serious wallop on 1-9 chalk Twin B Joe Fresh to pull a stunner in the $159,589 Perfect Sting.
Leaving from the pylon post, driver Tim Tetrick charged Sylvia Hanover to the fore and endured pressure from Aardie B Miki N (Jason Bartlett) through a :26 first quarter before caving for a pocket ride. Tetrick then found himself shuffled to third when My Girl Ej (Todd McCarthy) swooped from a forward seat to the front of the train before a :53.4 half. Twin B Joe Fresh (Dexter Dunn) meanwhile raced fourth and angled first-up for a steady grind through the final turn.
Twin B Joe Fresh inched to within a length of My Girl Ej coming to three-quarters in 1:21.3 while Tetrick had room to swing into the second-over seat with Sylvia Hanover in the turn for home. Twin B Joe Fresh reached forward for the lead as Tetrick launched to the center of the track with Sylvia Hanover, and within a matter of strides, she bolted past the reigning divisional champ to score a 10-1 surprise going away by two lengths in a 1:48.2 mile. My Girl Ej settled for third and Valar Dohaeris (Yannick Gingras) closed for fourth.
“She’s just a great horse,” Tetrick said after the race. “She overcomes bad drives and she’s tough. Speed doesn’t really bother her – she’s big, strong, and can carry it. I went hard to the quarter to make sure they had plenty of speed, and I think she’s just better if she wears them all out. That was just my theory on it and it continued to work.”
Mark Steacy trains Sylvia Hanover, a five-year-old mare by Always B Miki-Shyaway, for owner Hudson Standardbred Stb Inc. of Hudson, Que. She won her 23rd race from 43 starts, has now earned $2,404,435. She paid $23.80 to win.
Call Me Goo fought confidently when making two moves in her 1:51.2 winning effort in the $156,849 Six Pack Mares Trot and thrust herself over the seven-figure earnings plateau in the process.
Trainer Ake Svanstedt drove the five-year-old daughter of Googoo Gaagaa-Callmemza to her first win in three starts this year.
One of four mares trained by Svanstedt in the seven-horse field, Call Me Goo left swiftly from post seven and took the lead over M Ms Dream (Yannick Gingras) and even-money favourite Dial Square S to cut the first quarter in :27.2. Call Me Goo sat on the engine down the backstretch until James MacDonald pulled Dial Square S, another Svanstedt-trained mare, from third to take the lead into a :55.4 half and continued on the front to three-quarters in 1:24.1.
Svanstedt asked Call Me Goo to go turning for home, and she responded out of the pocket with an easy swing back to the lead. Dial Square S surrendered in the stretch to closing moves from M Ms Dream and Nelsonbriteagle No (Dexter Dunn), with M Ms Dream making up ground on Call Me Goo in the final stages. Call Me Goo rebuffed the sustained late challenge from M Ms Dream to win by a length with Nelsonbriteagle No finishing third and Dial Square S left in fourth.
Call Me Goo paid $4.40 in her 24th victory from 40 starts in her career. The top cash prize made her a millionaire, with $1,041,588 USD accrued through her career thus far.
Ake Svanstedt recorded his third straight training win in the Six Pack after winning in 2023 and 2024 with Jiggy Jog S. He co-owns the winning mare with Graham Grace Stables LLC of Clifton, Va., W. Bib Roberts of Brandywine, Md., and Kiwi Stables LLC of La Plata, Md.
After the race, Svanstedt said his strategy was to take the front off the gate: "She's a tough mare and very good [on the front]." He said he was confident even when Dial Square S took over the lead. "It was good because she always tries and gets the lead back. And she can go with the colts, and she will," he said.
Ken Hanover, a winner once last year from 12 starts in a lifetime-best mile over this track, and 2024 Breeders Crown Open Pace champion Coach Stefanos produced speedy return wins in their respective $118,493 divisions of the Dave Brower Memorial.
Coach Stefanos again reaped from a fast pace sowed to register the fastest mile of the 2025 meet at The Meadowlands so far, a lifetime-best 1:47.2 effort, as he won the second division of the Brower Memorial.
Maximus Miki (Andy McCarthy) motored for the lead to a :26.1 first quarter while 6-5 favourite Bythemissal (Gingras) managed to only find a seat in fourth. Bythemissal plotted his move on the backstretch while Ervin Hanover (Doug McNair) darted out of third to brush for the top before clocking the half in :53, at which point Bythemissal was forced into a first-over grind moving for the turn.
Room opened at the pylons for driver James MacDonald to skid forward and save ground with Coach Stefanos, who then managed to have a seam emerge to his outside with second-over Its My Show (Scott Zeron) stalled and soon retreating from cover on the charge to three-quarters in 1:20.2. MacDonald fanned from the cones to the center of the track and unleashed Coach Stefanos in the stretch, collaring his weary rivals to roll home a 1-1/4-length winner going away. Longshot Seven Colors (Bartlett) took second when rallying from a ground-saving trip while Bythemissal held third and Maximus Miki settled for fourth.
“I think all the Coach Stefanos players were licking their chops when they saw the half come up quick,” James MacDonald said after the race. “He’s just got such a good late punch. I think he’ll be a more versatile horse as he gets older, but right now it’s just fun to see what he can do late in the mile. He’s got an explosive move.”
A five-year-old gelding by Tellitlikeitis-Watch N Be Watched trained by Erv Miller, Coach Stefanos collected his 20th win from 54 starts and pushed his bankroll to $1,534,262 for Orland Park, Ill.-based owners K. W. Duffy, D&M Trading II LLC, and Mr. J. Chris Stefanos. He paid $20.40 to win.
Ken Hanover hustled from the outermost post in the octet and strode in hand to a 1:47.4 victory, equalling his lifetime best, in the first division of the Dave Brower Memorial.
Voukefalas (Joe Bongiorno) launched off the wings of the gate and crossed over to the top heading for the first turn. Driver David Miller pushed Ken Hanover forward, but methodically advanced to grab the lead from a headstrong Voukefalas past a :26.1 first quarter. Miller throttled his charge to a breather with a :54.2 half as Abuckabett Hanover (Dunn) tipped out of fourth and attempted to press for the lead first-over, but he made minimal inroads through the final turn.
Clocking three-quarters in 1:21.4, Ken Hanover and pocket-sitter Voukefalas scampered clear of the competition in the sprint for home. Bongiorno launched Voukefalas out of the pocket with a final lunge after Ken Hanover in the stretch, though Miller maintained a snug hold of the reins to register a measured win by a neck. Voukefalas settled for second with Coaches Corner (Bartlett) snatching third from a ground-saving trip. Charlie May (Zeron) rallied for fourth.
“He had a couple issues last year that he hopefully left behind them; he acts like they are,” trainer Roland Mallar said after the race. “He’s come back really strong and is sharp right now.”
A five-year-old stallion by Captaintreacherous-Kjs Justine now on a five-win tear including a world-record performance in the Grade 2 Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield Park, Ken Hanover has now won 18 races from 49 starts and has earned $977,688 for Mallar of Pinehurst, N.C., along with partners Patrick Leavitt of Buxton, Maine, William Jordan of Fryeberg, Maine, and Dennis Osterholt of Boyton Beach, Fla. He paid $3 to win.
Periculum, with Scott Zeron at the reins, fired mid-stretch from off the pace to carve a 1:50 score in the $224,658 Crawford Farms Open Trot.
Lexus Kody (Gingras) stormed from Post 9 before being outkicked by Osceola (McNair) and Aetos Kronos S (Dunn) while Periculum was unhurried from Post 3. Osceola clocked the first quarter in :27 and soon faced a challenge from Aetos Kronos S, who launched out of third with a fiery brush to take the lead in a scorching :54.3 half.
Zeron meanwhile kept Periculum steady in fifth through the early kerfuffle. He managed to catch a helmet once moving into action in the last turn when Lexus Kody came first-over from third. Aetos Kronos S continued on the engine through three-quarters in 1:22.3 with challengers looming.
Zeron took advantage of the quick three-quarters and placed Periculum perfectly on a path to show his speed in the stretch. Effortlessly, Periculum passed an all-out Aetos Kronos S and extended his lead to finish 3-1/4 lengths ahead of Aetos Kronos S, the other Marcus Melander-trained trotter in the race, with Lexus Kody completing the trifecta. Up Your Deo (Svanstedt) came from off the speed for fourth.
"He was sharp-looking last time [in his most recent qualifier, winning by over 20 lengths in 1:53]," said Melander. "He was supposed to race three weeks ago but he got a little fever on us, so we had to scratch him. He’s an older horse – he goes his intervals twice a week, jogs a little there in between. He’s sound, he’s happy. He’s a great horse.”
Melander said Periculum only raced twice this season because "there's not much to go for [in this division] early in the season. There’s way more in the fall. We have three weeks to the Spirit of Massachusetts, and then we have the Cashman here.”
Periculum's second win in two starts this season hiked his lifetime bankroll to $1,801,579 for owners Brixton Medical Inc. of Matawan, N.J. and Holly Lane Stud East Ltd. of Vero Beach, Fla. The six-year-old stallion by Muscle Hill-Amour Heiress registered his 13th win from 52 starts in his career.
Driver Zeron was happy with the way the mile formed for the trotters. "He had a great trip," he said. "We didn't get flushed early on and we picked up a live flow."
Periculum paid $6.40 to win.
There were four divisions of the W.N. Reynolds for three-year-old trotters contested on the undercard, with two dashes for colts and geldings and two for fillies.
In the first split for males, which went for a purse of $47,705, Hambletonian hopeful Go Dog Go (Greenshoe-Primary Target) followed live cover on the way to a lifetime-best 1:52 score by a length for driver Todd McCarthy and trainer Carter Pinske. The 1-5 favourite paid $2.60 to win.
Another horse with Hambo dreams, Gap Kronos S (Face Time Bourbon-Im Really Special) took the lead at the half and went down the road from there in the other division for males for Gingras and Svanstedt in a lifetime-best-equalling 1:51.4 by 1-1/2 lengths. As the 9-5 second choice, he returned $5.60 to his backers in the $47,021 dash.
Yo Tillie (Tactical Landing-Consolidator) used an explosive move to three-quarters to win the first division for fillies – which went for $45,719 – by eight lengths in a lifetime-best 1:51 for Todd McCarthy and Andrew Harris. The 2-5 public choice paid $2.80.
In the $45,034 second split for fillies, New Jersey Sire Stakes champion and Hambletonian Oaks eligible Conversano (Muscle Hill-Celebrity Ruth) grabbed the lead at the half and held sway to the wire in 1:52.1 for Andy McCarthy and Juan Cano. As the 8-5 second choice, she paid $5.40.
Joe Bongiorno, Todd McCarthy and Dave Miller led the drivers with two wins apiece, while Svanstedt and Bongiorno topped the trainers as each took a pair of walks down victory lane on the 14-race card.
A carryover of $6,742 enticed bettors to pour $57,678 of “new money” into the 20-cent Pick-6 pool for a grand total of $64,420. After a sequence that saw winner’s odds of 9-1, 2-1, 2-5, 10-1, 8-5 and 7-2, winning tickets were exchanged for $4,253.76. All-source handle totaled $3,515,284. Racing resumes Friday at 6:20 p.m.
(With files from the Meadowlands)