Meadows Monday memo

SUMMER SCHEDULE KICKS IN

Hollywood Casino at The Meadows will race its regular summer schedule starting this week.  Wednesday and Thursday action will begin at 12:45pm, with Friday action “under the lights” at 5:10pm.  The week concludes with a 12:45pm card on Saturday.

WEDNESDAY FEATURE

Wednesday afternoon’s card will feature the $18,000 Open Mares Pace, which brings together a strong group of 8.  Making her first Meadows appearance of the season is Rose, a winner of more than $400,000 last year at age 2 for the Burke Stable.  The homebred filly is the lone three-year-old in the field.  The morning line favorite is another Ron Burke trainee, Jillian B Miki.  Co-owner Ronnie Wrenn guided her to another top-level win last week in a career-best 1:51.1.  Newcomer Huntress debuts for trainer Virgil Morgan Jr after a pair of qualifying wins in Ohio.  Dave Palone will drive her as the second choice in the morning line, at 3-1.  The feature is carded as Race 5 on the 12-race card.

FRESHMEN COMING SOON

This past winter in Western Pennsylvania was a little less kind weather-wise than other recent seasons.  For the first time in several years, we will go through the entire month of May without a single two-year-old making an appearance in a qualifying race.  Expect the month of June to be filled with dozens of qualifying race fields full of freshmen making their career debuts.  Qualifying races are held at The Meadows every Tuesday morning at 11:00am, and are shown live on the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association’s Facebook page.

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