GRAND CIRCUIT

oldest continuing harness horse-racing series in the United States. It was begun in 1871 by Colonel Billy Edwards, a businessman from Cleveland, Ohio. The circuit, then known as the Quadrilateral Trotting Combination, held its first meetings in 1873 in Cleveland, in Utica and Buffalo, N.Y., and in Springfield, Mass. In the second half of the 20th century, the Grand Circuit was the premier American harness attraction, visiting more than 20 tracks in the United States and Canada and awarding a total purse of more than $4,000,000 in events for two- and three-year-old trotters and pacers.