Nine stakes races on Saturday Meadows card

Hollywood Casino at The Meadows’ Saturday afternoon card will feature nine stake races for state-bred trotters.

Pennsylvania Sire Stake (PASS) and Pennsylvania Stallion Series stakes will be held for three-year-old colts/geldings and fillies.

Filly trotters will be featured in four of the stakes – two divisions each of the Stenographer PASS and two divisions of the Stallion Series.  In the first $51,682 split of the top-level filly stake, Hangover, driven by Dave Palone for trainer Ake Svanstedt, has been installed as the 2-1 morning line favorite.  The second group is led by Can It Be Magic, a Ron Burke trainee driven by Ronnie Wrenn, at 8-5 on the morning line.

Colt and gelding trotters will take to the track for five stakes, two top-level PASS stakes called the Super Bowl, and three Stallion Series divisions.  In the first Super Bowl division, The Fix Is In, a modest $5,500 yearling purchase in 2023 by the Charlie Norris Stable, is the morning line choice at 9-5.  The International Moni gelding has three wins and more than $60,000 in earnings this season for trainer/driver Norris.

The second split is headlined by Fashion Green, a Jim Campbell trainee with Tim Tetrick set to drive.  Listed at 8-5 on the morning line, Fashion Green returns to The Meadows for the first time since setting the track record for two-year-olds last year, when he won a PASS event in 1:53.2.  He was 7^th in hist most recent start, a July 26 Hambletonian elimination.

NEW DRIVER DEBUTS SATURDAY

Race 13, one of just four overnight events on the Saturday card, will see the parimutuel debut of a new driver at The Meadows with a familiar name.  Trainer Ron Burke has two horses in the field, and Ronnie Wrenn opted to drive Act Fast from post 5, leaving six-year-old gelding Sweet N Fearless in need of a driver.  Ron Burke will turn to his son, Brad Burke, who has earned his provisional license driving in qualifying races this spring and summer.  This will be the first official drive for the 24-year-old.

Post time for the first race on Saturday is 12:45pm.

For complete race entries, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Jeff Zidek, for The Meadows