Monday Meadows Memo

HARNESS RACING SCHEDULE for the week at The Meadows.

We are now in our winter 3-day-per-week racing schedule, Wednesday through Friday afternoons at 12:45 pm.  This schedule will remain in place through the end of March.

WADE RETURNS TO WINNERS CIRCLE

Veteran David Wade earned his first driving win of the season last week, winning with 4YO homebred trotting gelding Betterinpinehurst, a son of Better Caviar.  Wade has now driven five horses this season with four top-2 finishes.  The veteran, now 78 years old, has long been known as a top trainer of trotters, campaigning such stalwarts as SJ’s Photo and SJ’s Caviar.

JANUARY STARTERS REPORT

For the first month of the racing season, our average number of starters per race was 8.6.  The increase in starters, combined with an updated wagering menu, has led to increased handle across the board at The Meadows so far in 2023.  The latest “newcomer” to bring horses to Western PA to race is Mike Micallef, a former local regular who has been racing mostly in Ohio and Florida in recent years.  Micallef has started four horses in the past two weeks at The Meadows.

WRENN, SIMPSON POST STRONG NUMBERS

Driver Ronnie Wrenn is off to a hot start at The Meadows so far, adding 11 wins to his total last week.  He now sits at 37 for the season, just two behind Dave Palone (39).  Jeremy Indof drove 9 winners last week, to remain in third place with 28.

Among trainers, Dirk Simpson has cut the margin to just two between himself (22 wins) and Ron Burke (24).  Both trainers have sent out 72 starters so far.  Third in wins is newcomer Stacey Currie, who has won 14 of 29 starts this year.  She arrived at The Meadows near the end of the 2022 season.  Among smaller stables, trainer Sandy Sokol has won 6 of 12 starts this year, while Melanie O’Donnell has 4 wins in 9 efforts.

If you would like additional information at any point, please reach out to track announcer Jeff Zidek (jeff.zidek@pennentertainment.com).

by Jeff Zidek, for The Meadows