EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Driver George Brennan dominated the winner’s circle at the Meadowlands on Hambletonian Day. The 44-year-old Monticello, N.Y., native guided Broad Bahn down the road in the $1.5 million Hambletonian and came from off the pace with 24-1 longshot Bold and Fresh in the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks.

The Hambletonian played out cut and dry. Only Broad Bahn and Whiskey Tax left away from the gate and the pair lined up 1-2, respectively. The duo stayed in alignment with no company until past the five-eighths, when the favored Manofmanymissions edged up on the rim.

On Sunday, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will face Chantal Sutherland in a match race at Del Mar being promoted as the "Battle of the Exes." The two were once engaged, a courtship that was featured on the Animal Planet documentary series "Jockeys." The two split, however, in 2010.

The name is a play off the 2003 match race hosted at Del Mar that was titled the "Battle of the Sexes," a face-off between Hall of Famer Julie Krone and Patrick Valenzuela. Aboard Chester’s Choice, Valenzuela defeated Krone by a nose.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the sport of harness racing is that the size of ones checkbook hardly determines the outcome of a race. Such is the case this year in the 86th edition of the Hambletonian.

On paper, Manofmanymissions, a $215,000 yearling purchase, is not only the most expensive horse in the field, but also its 9-5 morning line favorite. On the other end of the spectrum is Magnum Kosmos. Purchased for less than 3 percent the price of the favorite, this son of SJ’s Caviar, hardly looked much different than his expensive rival in last week’s elimination heat.

Saturday, July 30, marked a new chapter in the training career for Linda Toscano. The 56-year-old Brooklyn native started Chapter Seven in the Hambletonian eliminations that night, her first Hambo starter in her 27-year career.

The road to the Hambletonian for Toscano and Chapter Seven was anything but smooth.

Chapter Seven had a brilliant 2-year-old season where he won seven of eight starts and banked $211,549. He won the Matron final at Dover Downs in mid-November and all appeared perfect.

There is a first time for everything.

In the 29-year Hambletonian run at the Meadowlands, the upper echelon drivers, trainers, owners and farms have, more often than not, experienced their moments in the sun hoisting the most coveted trophy in harness racing. They typically rein, train, purchase and breed the finest horses and thus go into the big dance with the favorites.

Well, welcome to 2011!

Only Pastor Stephen (Jimmy Takter/Ron Pierce) and Opening Night (Jim and John Campbell) sport a trainer and driver tandem who have won the Hambletonian before.

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium has endorsed a policy that would prohibit private veterinarians from administering the anti-bleeding medication furosemide, commonly known as Lasix, on race day, while avoiding the question of whether the drug should be banned outright.

The Breeders’ Cup will announce the host track for its 2012 event at a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to officials who have been told of the organization’s plans. Santa Anita Park is widely expected to be named as the host site, the officials said, though the plan could not be confirmed by Thursday afternoon.

Chris Kotulak, a former anchor and reporter for the horse racing network TVG, has been hired by Remington Park as the track's communications associate. The Oklahoma City track will open its 67-date meet Aug. 18.

Several years ago a former Arlington Park racing secretary groused about a trainer’s decision not to enter a nominated horse in a stakes race. To the racing secretary, the horse in question at least had an outside chance to win. Why not take a shot? But the trainer had matched up his horse’s speed figures with the highest numbers earned by potential starters in the stakes and determined it would be folly to run.

The sport’s fourth-winningest trainer, with 5,988 victories through Aug. 2, he will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame next Friday, Aug. 12.

Birthdate: June 18, 1946, in Akron, Ohio

Family: wife, Janet

Got into racing because. . .  I was in Northern California, going to the races, and I wanted to find out what the backside was all about. I got a job walking hots, and I stayed.