Canadian Owner Brad Grant Pushes for Hambletonian Stakes Move to Canada

Brad Grant has won just about everything harness racing has to offer, but standing in the winner's circle at The Meadowlands in 2018 with filly Atlanta hit differently. That moment, he said, was the first time he truly felt the weight of the sport's biggest prize.

"I was standing in the winner's circle and all of a sudden realized this is the pinnacle, this is what we race for," said Grant, the Milton, Ont., trucking magnate who went on to win the race a second time with another filly, Ramona Hill, two years later. "It was the first time I ever had the 'Wow' factor of winning a race. It was like, 'This is it, there's nothing better.'"

Now Grant wants that feeling available on Canadian soil. The two-time Hambletonian winner and Woodbine Entertainment board member publicly backed a bid to bring the race to Woodbine Mohawk Park starting in 2027, arguing the move would be a significant boost to Canada's standardbred industry.

Woodbine Entertainment submitted the bid in February 2026. The Hambletonian Stakes is not just the sport's marquee event in name only; it is regarded as the world's top stakes competition for three-year-old trotters and carries the kind of institutional weight in harness racing that the Kentucky Derby holds in the thoroughbred game.

Grant, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame last year, leaned on Mohawk's recent track record with major events to make his case. The 2025 Breeders Crown, staged at the facility, drew praise from competitors and visitors alike.

"Every time someone comes to Mohawk to race in a big event, they go away with an impression of a job well done," Grant said. "You hear a lot more good things than bad and if you can break even, that's a good thing. After the Breeders Crown last year, people left here totally impressed with the whole thing, from start to finish."

The Hambletonian has long been held in the United States, with The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J., serving as its longtime home. Moving it north of the border for the first time would be a significant organizational undertaking, and the Hambletonian Society has not publicly responded to or acknowledged Woodbine's bid.

Grant's push carries institutional credibility beyond his personal wins. As a board member at Woodbine Entertainment, he is not simply an enthusiastic owner making noise from the outside. He is directly tied to the organization pursuing the race, and his two Hambletonian victories give him standing to speak about what staging the event at that level actually requires.

Whether the Hambletonian Society moves on the bid or not, the fact that Woodbine Entertainment formally submitted one signals a larger ambition from Canadian harness racing's dominant organization. For Grant, the argument is straightforward: a race of that magnitude, run in Canada, raises the ceiling for the entire sport here.