The heat didn't stop the Grand Circuit from making its first visit to Hollywood Casino at the Meadows this year, with the 51st edition of the Currier & Ives for 3-year-old trotters taking place. Two filly divisions, as well two divisions for colts and geldings, highlighted Thursday's 12-race card. Aunt Laura and Hall of Famer Dave Palone started the stakes racing action with a near wire-to-wire lifetime-best 1:53 1/5 mile in the first Currier & Ives division for the fillies. Leaving from post four, and after a brief give-and-go with Trump Over You, the daughter of Uncle Peter would race uncontested on the lead until just past the five-eighths, as Payback Moni and Brady Brown took chase on the leader. When challenged, Aunt Laura answered the call and would withstand a two-pronged attack in the stretch to hold off Payback Moni and third-place finisher Trump Over You. "Virgil (trainer Virgil Morgan Jr.) brings them prepared," Palone said after the win. "We were able to get a nice, comfy lead, and when they came to her, she fought on."  2024's Ohio 2-year-old filly champion is owned and was bred by Joyce McClelland Stables. In the second division of the filly Currier & Ives, Driver Brian Zendt and Dearly Beloved found themselves five lengths off the leader at the three-quarter pole and in the wrong flow, not to mention the filly was a little hot in the post parade. "I wanted to get behind Aaron (Merriman, driving pace-setter Mega Money) early, but after I saw that wasn't gonna happen. I looked for a helmet," Zendt said afterwards.  “At that point my filly was relaxed on the helmet, and I figured the front would come back to us.  "Once I did move, she tore home." After settling in third, the duo elected to sit in and watch the race develop. Finally, after the three-quarter pole, Zendt was able to angle the Greenshoe filly into the outer flow, still three lengths off the lead. It would take the Jenny Melander trainee the length of the stretch to track down the front-stepping Mega Money, and in the process take a lifetime-best 1:53 2/5 mark. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Brian Zendt's stakes second victory on the afternoon came with Aperol Hanover, this time in the first Currier & Ives open division. He had a cleaner trip but still took the length of the stretch to get his career-best 1:54 3/5 win. Following the break of the favorite Goo Goo Gone in the first turn, Zendt sat a loose fifth and waited for a cover trip to develop past the half that would carry him to the last turn.  "I may have been a little early going three-wide," Zendt explained. "But he trots the turns better, and knowing (Mike) Wilder (driving I'll Have A Double) was behind me and would be coming, I wanted to try and get a jump on him."  Aperol Hanover, a gelded son of Bar Hopping, is owned in part by trainer Bill Zendt, along with Gary Saul and Barbara McCallister. It is the signature win for Aperol Hanover, whose previous best was a Stallion Series victory earlier this season. The final Currier & Ives open division would wind up being the most hotly contested event of the day, resulting in a new stakes record. Cheers Hanover and Arrowhead Hanover's battle had the 3-year-old colts and geldings over to the half in a quick 55 1/5, and Aaron Merriman would move his charge, the Gimpanzee colt Gimpanzee Dancer, to the outside past the half before going three-wide before the three-quarters to overtake the tiring Cheers Hanover.  On top at the head of the stretch, the Chris Beaver-trained Gimpanzee Dancer would hold off a surging Jet Wings for a half- length victory in a personal and stakes-best 1:52 1/5. "He looks phenomenal until heclears, and then he makes it look harder than it is at times," Beaver, who co-owns with breeder Derek Ivany of Ontario, stated afterwards. A Hambletonian hopeful, Beaver continued that his performance today was "encouraging, he broke Il Sogno Dream's 11-year-old stakes record, and he performed very well for us in the Hambo." Merriman, who drove Il Sogno Dream to a third-place Hambletonian showing in the 2014 edition added a similar assessment of the young trotter. "He follows great on a helmet and travels easy. At this point he waits on other horses, but does enough to win," he said. --press release (MSOA)--