Wilkes-Barre, PA – Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania is gearing up for its 59th racing season, which begins on Feb. 17 and runs through Nov. 16. Post time will be 1 p.m. with the exception of Sundays, which will have a 6 p.m. post time.
The first qualifiers will be on Monday, Feb. 12. The deadline to enter will be Friday, Feb. 9 by 11 a.m. Qualifiers will also be held on Tuesday, Feb. 13. The deadline for those will be the previous day at 11 a.m. Qualifying races will start at 10 a.m. The following week qualifying races will be on the regular day of Wednesday. There will be a 90-day entry rule in place at the start of the season. The 45-day entry rule will go into effect with the draw for April 8.
The ever popular Game Of Claims Series gets underway on Saturday, March 2. Horses of various claiming prices (and gaits) will compete in Game Of Claims events through March and April. Nominations and nominating fees will be due at the time of the 1st leg for each category. A new rule this year will be that a horse must have started in all three preliminary legs in order to be in the final.
The Bobby Weiss Series, with its 13th edition, will start its preliminaries on Saturday, April 6 and races through to their Championships on the four days starting April 27. There will be a $100 nominating fee due on Feb. 15, which should be sent to the Pocono Race Office along with the nomination form.
The Pennsylvania-sired stakes season begins on Sunday, May 5 with a Pennsylvania All-Stars event; the PA Sire Stakes and Stallion Series make their first appearance on Saturday, May 18. This year the starting fee for the Pennsylvania All Stars events have been reduced from $400 to $200. This year Pocono will host the $252,000 Championships for all four of the 3-year-old divisions on Monday, Sept. 9.
On Saturday, Aug. 17 Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania hosts its premier card of the season, the $2 million Sun Stakes Saturday, with the finest 3-year-olds in North America coming to The Downs and racing in a main event and consolations based on seasonal earnings. For the 3-year-old pace, The Max C. Hempt Memorial and the 3-year-old open trot, the Earl Beal, Jr. Memorial, the main offers $300,000 purse. Each will have a $200,000 and $100,000 consolation. For 3-year-old fillies on the pace, the James M. Lynch Memorial; and on the trot, the Delmonica Hanover. Their main events go for $250,000. The consolations will be going for $125,000 and $75,000. As always, the $75,000 second consolation will have no starting fee. There will also be $100,000 Invitationals for older horses on both gaits on the Sun Stakes Saturday card.
Nominations and nominating fees for the Sun Stakes Saturday and Pennsylvania All Stars events are due on Feb. 15. They are to be sent to the Hambletonian Society.
Horsemen are reminded to get their online racing applications sent in well before entering to race. Preference will be given to those who have completed this mandatory requirement as well as having submitted all the required medication paperwork. Horses that do not have the required paperwork on file at scratch time will be scratched and the trainer will receive a $200 fine. All inquiries regarding medication paperwork should be addressed by contacting Angela Reynolds: 570-831-2125 or areynolds1@moheganpa.com.