Wilkes-Barre, PA — Sister Sledge, the leading rookie among trotting fillies in the Keystone State last year, took her $92,392 division of the final Pennsylvania Sire Stakes preliminary for 3-year-old trotting fillies in 1:52.4 on Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 25) at The Downs at Mohegan Sin Pocono.

Sister Slege stalked Next Level Stuff through a :27.2 quarter before driver Brian Sears brushed her to the lead in front of the stands. The pair hung up middle splits of :55.3 and 1:24.1, then held off a late move from Next Level Stuff by a length. Ron Burke trains the daughter of Father Patrick for Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Jason Melillo and J&T Silva-Purnel & Libby.

The Muscle Hill filly Sweet Shirley Mae took the other division, being given a skillful drive by Andy Miller to go from last to first in the lane and take a new mark of 1:54.2. Sweet Shirley Mae won by a neck over the first-over Fifty Cent Piece, while the second-over Queen Of The Hill in turn narrowly missed the runner-up spot. Domenico Cecere trains Sweet Shirley Mae for Moni Market Breeders.

There were also three $20,000 Stallion Series divisions for 3-year-old trotting fillies on the card. Ron Burke’s pupil Dune Hill completed a sweep of her preliminaries, winning hers in 1:55.1 after racing three-wide a long way for driver Matt Kakaley. Joseph Di Scala Jr. owns the seven-time seasonal winner. The other Stallion Series winners were Miss McKee (1:55.1, George Napolitano Jr.) and Sweet Tea (1:56, Marcus Miller).