Meadows Monday memo

UNDER THE LIGHTS FRIDAY

Hollywood Casino at The Meadows will kick off its summer racing schedule this week with its first Friday night “Under The Lights” card.  Racing will begin at 5:10pm, and will feature the ever-popular (unfortunately, non-wagering) Wiener Dog Races.  It’s all part of the annual Greater Pittsburgh Food Truck Festival.  Due to the festival, there will be no live racing on Saturday, so we are only racing 3 days this week.  Our regular 4-card-per-week schedule returns next week, with Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday cards at 12:45pm and Fridays at 5:10pm.

WRENN, PALONE TOP DRIVER STANDINGS

Ronnie Wrenn Jr continues to hold a narrow lead over Dave Palone among Meadows drivers.  Wrenn’s lead has now been cut to just six, 155-149, over perennial dashwinning driver Palone.  Aaron Merriman is third with 113 victories.  Among trainers, Ron Burke has a 25-win lead over Brandon Presto, 77-52.  Dirk Simpson is third with 43 wins.

QUALIFYING RECORD?

Statistics regarding qualifying races are not kept, but last Tuesday’s battle between Burke trainees Swingtown (Mike Wilder) and Sippinonsearoc (Bradley Burke) is believed to have resulted in the fastest non-purse race ever in track history.  Swingtown led throughout, holding off his stablemate by a neck in 1:49.3, with a 54 final half and a 26.4 final quarter.  Three qualifiers are set for tomorrow (May 20) at 11am, with video shown live on the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association’s Facebook page.  For archived qualifying video, visit www.youtube.com/themsoa.

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