This coming Saturday night (Nov. 24), the Meadowlands Racetrack will host the final Grand Circuit races of its 2018 season. The finals for both the TVG Championship and ‘Freshman Fall Final Four’ will be contested during a program that will boast nearly $3 million in purses.
The $1 million TVG Series was launched in the hope that it would mirror the Breeders Cup Classic in where the season's top three-year-old performers would face older rivals in the season-ending battle. The Open Trot Championship will see that concept come to fruition, and in a year filled with great performances will promise to be the race of the season for the trotting set.
Six Pack and Tactical Landing are the consensus top contenders for year-end honours in the sophomore colt trot division and both have been declared for the TVG final, which could well also determine the outcome of that poll.
Six Pack drew an invitation via his world record Kentucky Futurity win for Ake Svanstedt, who trains and drives the colt and owns him in partnership with Jeff Gural's Little E LLC, Stall Kalmer and Lars Berg. Six Pack is the fastest three-year-old trotter in harness racing history via his 1:49.1 Futurity victory and has earned over $1 million on the season.
Tactical Landing (to be driven by Brian Sears) has lived up to his potential with a magical second half of the season in the Jimmy Takter barn; highlighted by an imposing Breeders Crown win for the Tactical Landing Stable, which resulted in his TVG invitation. He won his Kentucky Futurity split in his personal best time of 1:50.2 and has earned more that $600,000.
The TVG will serve as the ‘rubber match’ between the pair, as Tactical Landing prevailed in a Hambletonian elimination while Six Pack took the Futurity final over his rival.
Just last season, What The Hill used a TVG Championship win to seal the deal for year-end honours for the sophomore trotting colt division.
Their assignment is certainly not an easy one, as the championship will also contain Yonkers International Trot winner Cruzado Dela Noche and TVG point leader Will Take Charge, who are among a very accomplished field of nine.
Also, in the TVG Mare Pace Championship, upset Breeders Crown winner Percy BlueChip (Matt Kakaley) will represent the sophomore ladies after trainer Ron Burke accepted the invitation for his interest as Burke Racing along with partners Weaver Bruscemi, Purnell & Libby and Don Emond. Percy BlueChip has returned dividends of more than $400,000 since her September purchase for the group.
At the top of the standings for the division is Shartin N (Tim Tetrick), who has dominated the older mare division all season and could become the first older pacing mare to earn over $1 million in a single season. She is trained by Jim King Jr. and owners Richard Poillucci and Jo Ann Looney-King.
The TVG Open Pacing Championship has SSG Stable's McWicked at the top of the heap points-wise for trainer Casie Coleman, and after his scintillating 1:47.3 ‘in the grips’ win for Sears last Saturday, he'll take some beating in the final as he tries to wrap up the Horse of the Year title.
The TVG Open Mare Trot is led by Emoticon Hanover (Dan Dube) in points and performance off her second consecutive Breeders Crown win for trainer Luc Blais and owner Determination. The 2017 Horse of the Year, Hannelore Hanover, will make her return for the Burke barn after a freshening, and Ice Attraction will be a player for Svanstedt, as well.
The $1.8 million Freshman Fall Final Four will send ten to post in each of the four divisions in the final big-money Grand Circuit event of the season for the two-year-olds.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)