This season’s top two sophomore pacing colts are set to clash in Saturday’s Simcoe Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Pepsi North America Cup winner Nijinsky (pictured above) and Meadowlands Pace winner Legendary Hanover lead a field of 11 for the $167,000 Simcoe Stakes for three-year-old pacers, one of six Grand Circuit stakes on Saturday’s 12-race card. Both star colts are trained by Anthony Beaton and will meet for the first time since the Meadowlands Pace on July 13.
The score between the stablemates this season is 1-1, with each having taken one of the sport’s classic events for three-year-old pacers.
Nijinsky sports a near-perfect record of eight wins from nine starts this season. The son of Bettors Delight has victories in the North America Cup, Somebeachsomewhere Stakes, Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Mid-Season Challenge and Meadowlands Pace elimination all to his name. Louis-Philippe Roy will reunite with Nijinsky, starting from post eight for owners West Wins Stable, John Fielding and Mark Dumain.
Legendary Hanover is the sport’s fastest horse this season, having taken a mark of 1:46.2 in the Cane Pace on Aug. 3. The son of Huntsville was fourth in the North America Cup before winning four of his next five starts, including the Meadowlands Pace and Empire Breeders Classic. With his speedy wins in the Meadowlands Pace and Cane Pace, Legendary Hanover is the only three-year-old pacer to have multiple wins in sub-1:47. James MacDonald team up again with ‘Legendary’ from post six for owners Eric Good, West Wins Stable and Mark Dumain.
The Simcoe Three-Year-Old Open Pace goes as Race 7, with an estimated post time is 9:32 p.m. ET.
Similar to the colts, the season’s leading three-year-old pacing filly Its A Love Thing will also be in Simcoe Stakes action on Saturday. The Dave Menary-trained Its A Love Thing will go for her eighth win in 10 starts this season, taking on seven rivals for a purse of $152,000. The daughter of Bettors Delight has been cleaning up in both the Grand Circuit and sires stakes, earning more than $633,000 in 2024 for owners Eric Good, Thomas Biederman, Josh Green and Rich Lombardo Racing. Its A Love Thing’s accomplishments this season includes victories in the Fan Hanover, Jerry Silverman Memorial, SBOA Stakes, multiple OSS Gold events and the Kentucky Sires Stakes. Regular reinsman James MacDonald will partner with Its A Love Thing from post six.
The Simcoe Three-Year-Old Filly Pace is carded as Race 9, with an estimated post time of 10:16 p.m. ET.
The Grand Circuit action on Saturday also features a pair of divisions for both the Champlain Two-Year-Old Open Pace and Champlain Two-Year-Old Filly Pace. Each division will go for north of $80,000 and they are carded as Races 2, 3, 6 and 8.
Post time for the 12-race card is 7:10 p.m. ET.
To view Saturday's harness racing entries, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Woodbine Mohawk Park.
For early program pages for Saturday, click here.
(With files from Woodbine)