Harness racing’s top crop will be out in full force on Hambletonian Day at the Meadowlands Racetrack, which includes a strong batch of contenders with Canadian connections
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The following lists the horses competing in the multitude of stakes events with owners, breeders, trainers and/or drivers based in Canada.
Masters Stakes winner Misterizi and Armbro Continental will square off in the opening $75,000 Paris – Vincennes Invitational for older trotters while Yursa Hanover and millionaires Elusive Desire and Windsong Soprano, who finished first and second in the Armbro Flight, will face off in the following $100,000 Perretti Matchmaker Trot for mares.
Two-year-old trotting filly Hey Mister starts from the rail in the $437,000 Merrie Annabelle (Race 3).
Double millionaire Shark Gesture and Hypnotic Blue Chip will start in the first division of the $182,500 US Pacing Championship for open pacers scheduled for Race 4 while Jeremys Successor and Corky Baran will duke it out in the second division set for Race 12.
Mistletoe Shalee elimination winner Seriously also has the rail in the $275,000 fifth race event for three-year-old pacing fillies.
Elimination winners Pastor Stephen and Leader Of The Gang will leave from the two inside starting spots in the $500,000 Peter Haughton Memorial for two-year-old trotting colts and geldings one race later.
In the eighth race $300,000 Nat Ray Invitational for aged trotters, Canada’s hopes for a victory lie with In Focus, Tacs Delight and Slave Dream.
Sophomore trotting fillies Behindclosedoors, elimination winner Poof Shes Gone, In The Mean Time, Bramalea Hanover, and Elegantimage champion Ultimate Cameron star in the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks (Race 9).
Stanley Dancer winner Muscle Massive, Yonkers Trot champion On The Tab and Hard Livin will take center stage in the featured $1.5 million Hambletonian for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings, slated for Race 10.
Glamour boys Aled Hanover, Piece Of The Rock and Rockin Image will put on their game faces in the first $115,500 Oliver Wendell Holmes division (Race 11) while All Speed Hanover gets set to go in the second division (Race 14).
Millionaire Dreamfair Eternal leads the field of open mares for the $248,000 Lady Liberty (Race 13), which also features Fox Valley Topaz and On The Glass.
Click here for a free Hambletonian Day program.