Pennsylvania Championships set for $3 Million weekend

HARRISBURG PA – With the last preliminary rounds of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Pennsylvania Stallion Series completed on Sunday afternoon (August 30), there’s scant time to catch one’s breath before this coming Labor Day Weekend’s staging of the Championship events of these pari-mutuel programs for the premier Pennsylvania-sired two- and three-year-olds, in aggregate worth over $3 million for the cream of the Pennsylvania crop.

Pennsylvania rotates the Stallion Series Championships, the three-year-old Sire Stakes Championships, and the two-year-old Sire Stakes Championships among the state’s three pari-mutuel harness racetracks. In 2026, Hollywood Casino at The Meadows will lead off with all eight (by age, sex, and gait) of the Stallion Series Championships on Saturday, September 5 at 12:45 p.m.; Harrah’s Philadelphia follows with the four three-year-old Sire Stakes Championships on the following day at 12:40; and the Championship Weekend concludes with the four finales for two-year-olds at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Labor Day Monday at 1 p.m.

Even though the Pocono freshmen races will be raced last, through a quirk in the Pennsylvania draw schedules (partly-necessitated by program printing schedules), the baby Championships will be drawn first, on Tuesday morning. Both the 3YO Championships and all the Stallion Series Championships will be drawn on Wednesday morning.

The Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association (PHHA), chief dispenser of racing information for the two “Eastern tracks” (Philly and Pocono), plans on sending out a combined press release later Wednesday afternoon (September 2), highlighting the matchups in all of the freshman and sophomore groups, notably the long-awaited two-year-old colt pace Championship, with its two sub-1:50f world recordsetters in Starstruck Dreamer and Shalom Hanover.

The Meadows and the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association (MSOA) will likewise have pertinent information on the Stallion Series Championships, with one focus being if the PaStS Championships can produce a sub-1:50 mile – both Flash Attack (2023, Meadows) and Snack Attack (2025, Pocono) have gone in exactly 1:50, and whether that standard can be broken will be interesting to follow.

From the PHHA