The Battle of Lake Erie, the longest running stakes event hosted at MGM Northfield Park, has once again attracted a star-studded cast for its 2021 edition. The $200,000 event, which is carded as the 10th race on Saturday (June 5), features a competitive field of the sport’s best open pacers with a combined 287 victories.
Introducing the 2021 $200,000 Battle of Lake Erie field:
#1 Western Joe - This seven-year-old son of Western Ideal is the 7-2 second choice. Christopher Choate trains this East Coast stalwart and has named Aaron Merriman to drive. Merriman recently notched his 13,000th driving win, is the leading driver in North America, and is Northfield’s all-time winningest driver. Western Joe, who is owned by Anthony Ruggeri and Richard Tosies, is out of the Falcon Seelster mare Ante Fay. Falcon Seelster won the very first Battle of Lake Erie in 1986. Western Joe’s lifetime mark is 1:47.3 with a career bankroll of $821,008.
Field Set For Battle Of Lake Erie | Standardbred Canada
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Rebound Score For One Eight Hundred | Standardbred Canada
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This Week: Dexter Cup elimination, Freehold Raceway, Freehold, N.J.
Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit at Freehold on Saturday (April 24) features a single $38,529 Dexter Cup elimination for three-year-old open trotters.
Ten horses entered the Dexter Cup on Wednesday. Two of them, Ambassador Hanover for trainer Åke Svanstedt, and Sunny Crockett, trained by Julie Miller, accepted byes and will advance to next week’s final. As a result, the top six finishers in the elimination will move on to the final.
Last Time: This Is The Plan was able to overcome starting from the outside post eight with a blitz off the gate and then never let anybody get close to him after that in winning Monday night’s (April 19) $514,000 MGM Borgata Pacing Series final at Yonkers Raceway in 1:50.4. This Is The Plan, driven by Yannick Gingras and one of three in the final sent out by trainer Ron Burke, was dispatched at odds of 11-1.