John Brennan Trotting Series begins Wednesday
At 0h12, on April 1, 2023 • By YONKERS
With the MGM Borgata Series and Blue Chip Matchmaker Series, both for pacers, underway, the trotting set will join the action at MGM Yonkers Raceway on Wednesday night (April 5) with six $25,000 divisions of the opening round of the John Brennan Series.
The John Brennan Trotting Series is named in honor of the longtime Standardbred Owners Association of New York horsemen’s representative who passed away from complications of COVID-19 in March 2020. The series is for 3-year-olds and older who were non-winners of six pari-mutuel races or $150,000 through Feb. 1, 2023, with winners over $250,000 as of that date not eligible. The series features three preliminary legs on April 5, 12 and 19 with a $79,000 final and a $35,000 consolation April 26.
A total of 48 horses were nominated to the John Brennan Trotting Series, which is the most in the history of the event, and 41 of those nominees showed up in the entry box for the first leg, when it closed on Thursday (March 30).
“I am very excited to see it take off like this in Big John’s memory. It is such a great thing,” said Yonkers racing secretary Joe Frasure.
Among the storylines looming on Wednesday are Cantstop Yankee (post six, Tyler Buter), who is three-for-three in 2023, taking on the five-for-six Summit City Sonny (post two, Dexter Dunn) and Spicy Nugget (post five, Yannick Gingras) in the first split; the Yonkers debut of Irish champion Harry Knows IR (post six, Lauren Tritton) in the second tilt; and two sharp horses in Southwind Arturo (post three, Buter) and Outside The Fire (post four, Scott Zeron) meeting up in the fourth section.
Twelve races will take place in total on Wednesday night, with John Brennan Trotting Series action in races one, two, four, six, eight and 10.
