A group of North America’s best veteran pacers are set to collide at MGM Northfield Park for the $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie on Saturday night, June 5.
This Is The Plan, winner of the $514,000 Borgata Series Final at Yonkers on April 19, headlines a field of nine of the sport’s fastest horses. Trained by harness racing’s all-time leading conditioner Ron Burke, This Is The Plan is the top-earning horse in harness racing in 2021 with over $324,000 in purses. The six-year-old has amassed a career bankroll of over $2-million.
Century Farroh, champion of the $500,000 Breeders Crown for veteran pacers in 2020 and the O'Brien Horse of the Year, is also expected to be among the Battle of Lake Erie favorites. The Ontario-sired star has earned over $1.2-in earnings for trainer Dr. Ian Moore and owners Ratchford Stables of North Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Local warhorse Southwind Amazon is also expected to take on the big boys in the main event on Saturday. The 11-year-old gelding tops the field with 107 wins in 271 starts. The Paul Holzman trainee has earned nearly $1.2-million the hard way in his blue-collar career.
Leonidas A, an Australian import who has found instant success in the U.S., will head to Northfield for the first time. The Sheena McElhiney pupil has 11 victories in 16 trips postward since arriving stateside, including four $40,000 legs of the Borgata Series at Yonkers this spring and the $100,000 Potomac Pace at Rosecroft last fall.
Other top candidates for slots behind the Battle of Lake Erie starting gate are East Coast stalwart Western Joe, a winner of over $800,000; Catch The Fire, one of the sport’s top three-year-olds in 2020 and champion of the $375,000 Adios at The Meadows; Indiana-sired standout Little Rocket Man, a winner of 22 of 36 starts; Stars Align A, another Australian import who recently scored in 1:48 at The Meadowlands; and Ohio-sired campaigner Gold Digger King, who has been victorious in four of his past five starts in the Buckeye State.
A power-packed undercard will feature divisions of rich Ohio Sires Stakes action for three-year-old pacing fillies and three-year-old trotting colts & geldingss. An all-stakes $10,000 Guaranteed Pick 5 will commence in Race 6 on the 15-race program, with the Battle of Lake Erie anchoring the sequence in Race 10 at approximately 10 p.m. (EDT). First race post time is 6 p.m. (EDT).
The Battle is Northfield’s oldest stakes event, dating back to 1986, but the race was canceled in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
(Northfield Park)