Harrisburg, PA – With the last preliminary rounds of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes and Pennsylvania Stallion Series completed on Sunday (Aug. 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 2- and 3-year-olds, in aggregate worth over $3 million for the cream of the Pennsylvania crop.
Pennsylvania rotates the Stallion Series Championships, the 3-year-old Sire Stakes Championships, and the 2-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, Sept. 5, at 12:45 p.m.; Harrah’s Philadelphia follows with the four 3-year-old Sire Stakes Championships on the following day at 12:40 p.m.; and the Championship Weekend concludes with the four finales for 2-year-olds at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania on Labor Day Monday at 1 p.m. (all times EDT).
Even though the Pocono freshman races will be raced last, through a quirk in the Pennsylvania draw schedules (partly necessitated by program printing schedules), those Championships will be drawn first, on Tuesday morning (Sept. 1). Both the 3-year-old Championships and all the Stallion Series Championships will be drawn on Wednesday morning (Sept. 2).
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 highlighting the matchups in all of the freshman and sophomore groups, notably the long-awaited 2-year-old male pace Championship, with its two sub-1:50f world record-setters in Starstruck Dreamer and Shiloh 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.